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Sticker of Six-spotted carpenter ant
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Six-spotted carpenter ant

Camponotus sexguttatus
Eats: A bit of everythingAntsRainforests and jungles6 legs

The six-spotted carpenter ant is a busy ant from warm parts of the Americas. It lives in big families called colonies, with a queen who lays all the eggs. It has also travelled to new places far from home.

Lives in
South and Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, and now also Florida, Hawaii and Arizona
Top speed
about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
On foot, estimate
What does it eat?
Like other carpenter ants, it eats many things, such as small insects and sweet juices.
For real!Photo of Six-spotted carpenter ant
Picture by Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Scientists have named eleven subspecies of it, slightly different groups of the same ant.

2

It has spread to Florida, Hawaii and Arizona, where it does not naturally belong.

3

Carpenter ants got their name because many of them make their nests in wood.

you asked

Most asked questions about Six-spotted carpenter ant

?Where does the six-spotted carpenter ant live?

Naturally in South and Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. It now also lives in Florida, Hawaii and Arizona.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Camponotus sexguttatus
Named by
Fabricius, 1793
Group
Ants
Family
Formicidae
Classification
Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
Lives on
South America, North America, Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Camponotus sexguttatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, 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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