Camponotus laevissimus or the Glacial Carpenter Ant, is a very exciting species. A large and striking species, they're uniquely shiny black. Unlike similarly sized carpenter ant species, they are both active in the day and run along quite quickly. While not shy, they run and react quickly in response to their surroundings, whether it be potential prey or predator. With large soldier ants, in the northern end of their distribution they will carve out large nests in rotting (not the kind you would find in your house) wood. In the southern end they will often nest in the ground.
Camponotus laevissimus belongs to the Camponotus subgenus. With workers ranging from 7 to 18mm, and queens ranging from 16-19mm, they're most readily separated from similarly sized Camponotus by their shiny black body with sparse white hairs.
This species is an amazing pick for beginners. Though brood grows slowly due to their large size, their care is very simple, consisting of the usual sugar water and insects combination. They can be housed in basically any nest, wooden nests included. Hibernation is required.
| Scientific Name: | Camponotus laevissimus |
| Common Name: | Glacial Carpenter Ant |
| Taxonomy: | Kingdom: Animalia | Phylum: Arthropoda | Class: Insecta | Order: Hymenoptera | Family: Formicidae | Subfamily: Formicinae | Genus: Camponotus | Species: C. laevissimus |
| Care Difficulty: | Camponotus laevissimus is a beginner level species. |
| Distribution: | This species can only be found in western North America. |
| Habitat: | Varied. Found from pinewood forest to grasslands. |
| Colony form: | Monogynous, meaning only one queen in a single colony. |
| Queen: | Queens of this species reach a size of around 18 mm. |
| Worker: | Majors will approach 18 mm, minors will stay around 7-8mm, with medias being anywhere in between. |
| Nutrition: | The typical insect and sugar water combination is more than adequate for this species. |
| Air humidity: | Humidity should be greater than 20%. |
| Temperature: | Heating will drastically decrease the time from egg to worker, and this species can be heated safely up until 30 Celsius. |
| Hibernation: | Diapause is required for this species, and should consist of a fridge hibernation for 3-4 months once a year when they stop growing. |
| Nesting Habits: | In the wild they have been observed to nest in rotting wood and in their southern distribution in the ground. |
| Kind of Formicaria: | Nearly any setup will work for them, including Tarheel Ants formicarium, other plaster nests, acrylic nests, and wood nests as well. |
| Formicaria size: | Colonies will get larger than 10,000 workers, but will both take a while to get there and not get to that size unless you feed them enough. |
| Description: | Camponotus laevissimus is a very strikingly beautiful ant. With large shiny black workers, their behavior is unique among Camponotus species. |
| Development: | Colonies will have their nuptial flights during late Spring to early Summer. |
| Offering quantity: | Queen, Queen + 5-10 workers, Queen + 10-25 workers, Queen + 25-50 workers, Queen + 50-100 workers. |
| Weblinks: | https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Camponotus_ laevissimus |
Photos courtesy of @nurbsants
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Hey! This is a live product. If you are purchasing ants during the winter months, please remember to purchase the "Winter Shipping (Live Guarantee) (72 hour heat pack + 1 inch foam cushion)" in order to guarantee the order.
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If live insects arrive cold or flooded please handle with care. Many of these colonies typically pop back up within a few hours. All DOA claims must be made within 24 hours after receiving your insects. Any order with a unacceptable mortality rate, but with a viable colony (e.g. less workers than in the range advertised, less queens or workers than advertised) can be compensated with store credit equal to the loss of value in the shipment, including shipping and extra packaging. Any order with DOAs, but which do not fall out of the initially advertised/promised range of workers will NOT be compensated.
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