Carpenter or Pavement?

[KoriHiya64]

Hi, my boyfriend and I need some help identifying a queen we found back in May.

We found her in the middle of May in Leavenworth Washington, USA. She only had a piece of one wing left and began laying her eggs days after giving her a home. I found her in the women's restroom, doing her royal duty.

She is 1.5mm in size, her workers being .75mm. We named her Tigress because I believe her and her ants’ coloration remind me of a Tiger’s Eye gem. She is mainly black is a reddish-brown underbelly and legs. Her workers have black heads and gasters, while their middle sections are a similar reddish-brown, but maybe a bit lighter.

As far as behavior is, when I first picked up the Queen, she was calm and explored around my hand. We believed her to be a carpenter ant because she wasn’t aggressive or tried to sting us. She soon started laying eggs and we had our first 3 workers within a couple of months. Last time we counted, we have 7 total workers. What has us questioning their species now, however, was when we first gave them protein (a cricket leg). The first worker who found it suddenly went into attack mode, flexing its gaster towards the leg, as if it was trying to sting it. We found it very strange because there have been times where the workers have escaped during feeding, and we’ve handled them until we managed to slip them back in. In those times, they still haven’t attempted to sting us. Since the first leg, we have not seen any other worker attempting to sting their food.

We have a clutch of eggs in there right, but they’ve stopped growing some time after Autumn began. The ants aren’t eating them, but they aren’t getting any bigger either. We've continued to feed them and they still seem to eat here in December. Would it be better to have them hibernate? And can anyone point us in the right direction? We'd really appreciate it.

Hopefully these pictures are good enough. Sorry if not. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1T3ge-BsWBwfn371EWrb1AdLI361yQKVJ?usp=sharing

[SYUTEO]

These are indeed Carpenter ants (Camponotus sp) and these ants don't sting but instead spray formic acid at their enemies but 1.5mm seems way too small when compared to that test tube. The queen's first workers are usually more defensive as they are more cautious most of the time.

[SolenopsisKeeper]

Possibly 1.5cm?

The only queens that small are rover ants and ghost ants I think

[KoriHiya64]

Possibly 1.5cm?

The only queens that small are rover ants and ghost ants I think

Yes. We just measured again. My boyfriend read the ruler wrong. It was suppose to be 1.5cm.
Our bad.

[KoriHiya64]

These are indeed Carpenter ants (Camponotus sp) and these ants don't sting but instead spray formic acid at their enemies but 1.5mm seems way too small when compared to that test tube. The queen's first workers are usually more defensive as they are more cautious most of the time.

Yes, you were right. My boyfriend told me the wrong unit of measurement. We remeasures, and they are actually 1.5cm.

But thank you for letting us know. We should’ve thought that they could’ve been spraying something instead. That’s a relief.

[SolenopsisKeeper]

These are indeed Carpenter ants (Camponotus sp) and these ants don't sting but instead spray formic acid at their enemies but 1.5mm seems way too small when compared to that test tube. The queen's first workers are usually more defensive as they are more cautious most of the time.

Yes, you were right. My boyfriend told me the wrong unit of measurement. We remeasures, and they are actually 1.5cm.

But thank you for letting us know. We should’ve thought that they could’ve been spraying something instead. That’s a relief.

Also, I think that most species have majors and will not accept new workers. They like low humidity, and can grow fast if given a good environment.

[Good2Know15]

Hi, my boyfriend and I need some help identifying a queen we found back in May.

We found her in the middle of May in Leavenworth Washington, USA. She only had a piece of one wing left and began laying her eggs days after giving her a home. I found her in the women's restroom, doing her royal duty.

She is 1.5mm in size, her workers being .75mm. We named her Tigress because I believe her and her ants’ coloration remind me of a Tiger’s Eye gem. She is mainly black is a reddish-brown underbelly and legs. Her workers have black heads and gasters, while their middle sections are a similar reddish-brown, but maybe a bit lighter.

As far as behavior is, when I first picked up the Queen, she was calm and explored around my hand. We believed her to be a carpenter ant because she wasn’t aggressive or tried to sting us. She soon started laying eggs and we had our first 3 workers within a couple of months. Last time we counted, we have 7 total workers. What has us questioning their species now, however, was when we first gave them protein (a cricket leg). The first worker who found it suddenly went into attack mode, flexing its gaster towards the leg, as if it was trying to sting it. We found it very strange because there have been times where the workers have escaped during feeding, and we’ve handled them until we managed to slip them back in. In those times, they still haven’t attempted to sting us. Since the first leg, we have not seen any other worker attempting to sting their food.

We have a clutch of eggs in there right, but they’ve stopped growing some time after Autumn began. The ants aren’t eating them, but they aren’t getting any bigger either. We've continued to feed them and they still seem to eat here in December. Would it be better to have them hibernate? And can anyone point us in the right direction? We'd really appreciate it.

Hopefully these pictures are good enough. Sorry if not. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1T3ge-BsWBwfn371EWrb1AdLI361yQKVJ?usp=sharing

Hi there,

It seems to be Camponotus chromaiodes to me. However, if you could provide photos in better lighting, I could confirm for sure.
Goodluck with this lovely colony!