Image of Camponotus obscuripes Mayr 1879

Description:

"The ant is red in the middle. I caught it and put it in a bug cage and it tried to climb up the plastic walls. It fell from the walls a lot and moves is constantly moving. It is 5mm-10mm in length. Updated October 14, 2014: Physical Characteristics -Two antennae, two eyes, six black legs, black head, red thorax, red/black abdomen -8mm long -Thorax is longer than the head and abdomen -Back legs are longer than the other legs -Large mandible (jaw) Respiration- Occurs when oxygen enters through spiracles on the sides of the body and flows through tracheal pipes that go to different parts of the body. Irritability-They travel to alive trees nearby, but not in a line, and climb up the trunk and crawl on the leaves. They take the same general path to the tree. When two of them cross paths, they usually don’t stop walking. Nutrition-I observed them eating small dead insects such as grasshoppers. The ants in the bug cage ate cookie crumbs. Growth-They go through metamorphosis. First, eggs hatch into larvae and turn into pupae. After that, they become adults. This whole process takes about sixty days. Excretion-Feces is dark black/brown. Reproduction-Takes place in the spring to early summer when winged male and female ants fly and mate. The male dies, while the female starts a new colony. Surprising Observations Unlike common ants, they are bi-colored. When climbing up trees/rocks/plastic walls, they suddenly fall. I found a colony under the rocks that line the side of the road. They were only in one part of the line of rocks, where their nest was. Questions Why are they so bad at climbing? How big are their nests? Works Cited あい. あいの飼育ブログ (Ai's Breeding Blog). N.p., 27 June 2010. Web. 14 Sept. 2014. . Ants, Carpenter. ""Carpenter Ants Reproduction."" Carpenter Ants. N.p., 24 Oct. 2008. Web. 14 Sept. 2014. . Bolton, Barry. ""Species: Campotonus Obscuripes."" Species: Camponotus Obscuripes. The California Academy of Sciences, 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2014. . てんびんセブン. ""ムネアカオオアリ (Camponotus Obscuripes)."" アリを飼っています (I Raise Pet Ants). N.p., 31 May 2013. Web. 14 Sept. 2014. . Jacobs, Steve, SREA. ""Carpenter Ants - Entomology."" Entomology (Penn State University). College of Agricultural Sciences, 2014. Web. 14 Sept. 2014. . Terayama, Mamoru, Masaaki Morishita, and Keiichi Onoyama. ""Camponotus Obscuripes."" JAnt. Trans. Mamoru Terayama. Ed. Robert W. Taylor. Japanese Ant Database Group, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2014. ."