ant ID, a cool pic

[Galapoheros]

I picked up some ants today that I see around here pretty often in central tx. They are usually found under flat rocks where they dig large diameter, shallow nests. I think they'd be a good candidate for some of the ant setups I've seen in other posts because of the way they nest. I took a pic of my finger nexy to the base of the container so you could get an idea of the size of the ants. They are pretty big. Anyway, I've never tried to ID these ants. I just remembered something. Are these what people commonly call Carpenter ants?

 

[the_frog_kid]

wow those are big
the ants we have here that i find are red and about 1 mm
black ones and carpenter ants are bigger but those arnt as common in the city




thanx froggy

 

[myrmecophile]

Yes those are carpenter ants, genus Camponotus. You got a good cross section of castes including one winged male. I dont know the Texas species well enough to hazard a guess though as to species. However the fact they nest in soil puts them most likely in the genus Tanaemyrmex.

 

[RodG]

Love Them Ants!!!

Great photos:clap: I have always considered ants way cool inverts.
Please keep us posted on the progress of your vairous ant projects. Thanks!

 

[nepenthes]

Definetaly Camponotomus, just cause they are "carpenter ants" doesnt mean they wont nest in soil!

get a metric ruler out, or check out

http://antweb.org/

:-D Doesn't look like you have a queen so the colony would only last for so long.

That big one in the middle is a MAJOR aka commonly known as Worrier ant... they just do different tasks. Cute ants.... lol