| This is a nest of carpenter ants found in a
pile of building rubble, about 20 feet from a new home. These are
identified as Modoc species because the three main body parts are all
black. A small piece of
plywood half buried in the soil provided an ideal venue for their
tunneling to house larvae and pupae.
When uncovered the workers immediately started trying to
rescue the larvae and pupae by carrying them out of the exposed daylight
to dark unexposed pieces of the wood. In less than 30 minutes,
most of the exposed larvae and pupae had disappeared.
The semi-transparent pupae reveal the dark image of the
future ant. Note the different sizes which will result in different
size ants. When they develop into ants they will not get any
larger. (Little ants don't grow up to be big ants.)
We placed a dime coin in the nest to indicate relative sizes.
There was very little sawdust in this nest. It had been removed from
the smooth galleries chewed in the soft grains of the plywood to make
room for the larvae and pupae to develop.
More photos and
carpenter ant
information:
Digital
microscope photos
Life
cycle and habits
Getting
rid of carpenter ants
About the photos. These photos were taken with a digital
camera using a macro lens. Because of the constant movement, focus was
difficult at close range. All photos have been optimized
(compressed) for this web page to reduce the download time. This
process reduces the picture quality.
|
