Insects · Hymenoptera · Formicidae

Hercules Ant

Camponotus herculeanus

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

A large carpenter ant, black with a reddish base to the abdomen, which tunnels into dead or damp conifer wood. It does not eat the wood: it removes it to build its chambers, leaving little piles of sawdust that give the nest away.

Size

6 cm – 18 cm

Lifespan

15 years

Diet

Omnivore

Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

Temperate forestOmnivore Colonial Insect Temperate forest

44countries 25parks10same family

Fun facts

Unlike termites, it does not digest cellulose: it tunnels into wood purely to live in it, and its food is insects and the sugary honeydew provided by aphids.
It survives winters of tens of degrees below zero by building up glycerol in its tissues, a natural antifreeze.
A colony can live for more than twenty years, and its queen is one of the longest-lived in the insect world.
It does not eat wood: it excavates it with its mandibles to make the nest and pushes the debris out, unlike termites, which do digest it.
The queen can live between ten and fifteen years.
It has three worker castes — major, media and minor: the large ones defend the nest and forage, the small ones excavate and tend the brood.
It forms satellite nests connected to the main one by underground tunnels, in warmer, drier places, where it keeps the older larvae, the pupae and the reproductives.
A colony takes between three and six years to grow large.

Life cycle & biology

Habitat & environment: Conifer and mixed forests of northern Europe, Asia and North America
Gestation / incubation: From egg to worker, between 8 and 10 weeks

Sources consulted: AntWiki; Wikipedia (Camponotus herculeanus); Encyclopaedia Britannica