American carpenter ant
Camponotus americanus

The American carpenter ant is a big ant. Its workers are bigger than most ants you see. It usually builds its home in the soil, but it can also move into rotten logs.
Lives in
North America, in soil, under stones and in rotten logs
Length
0.7 to 1 cm (0.28 to 0.39 in)
workersWhat does it eat?
Like other carpenter ants, it eats sweet juices and small insects.

How big is it?
How long is it?
๐
small enough to sit on your fingernail๐as long as 1.5 grains of rice in a row๐ฝ๏ธcould run across a dinner table in 8.6 seconds
How big is American carpenter ant compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A garden snail about 0.05 km/h (0.03 mph)
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
American carpenter ant about 0.42 km/h (0.26 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its workers are 7 to 10 millimetres long, which is big for an ant.
2
It usually nests in the soil, but it may also live under stones, under fallen leaves or in rotten logs.
3
Carpenter ants got their name because many of them make their homes in wood.
you asked
Most asked questions about American carpenter ant
?Where does the American carpenter ant live?
Mostly in the soil, and sometimes under stones or in rotten logs.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Camponotus americanus
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Camponotus americanus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by April Nobile. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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