I happen to find carpenter ants quite interesting and one species of them – Camponotus Modoc, is very common around here.  Therefore, when I saw Carpenter Ants Of The United States And Canada on sale at a used book store, I decided to pick up a copy and learn more about them.

It turns out what was happening was a new generation of queens was getting ready for flight.  The scene above occurred one day when I propped up a log in my backyard where I know there is a nest.

In terms of what I hoped to get out of the book, I hoped to better understand carpenter ants.  I am neither a myrmecologist nor an exterminator.  I just want to understand them better in order to get better pictures.  In that respect, the book succeeded.

However, I do feel that the book cannot decide who its primary audience is.  It includes chapters that go into depth on their anatomy as well as a chapter on extermination practices.  Therefore it is half aimed at myrmecologists and half aimed at exterminators.  However, the chapters meant for each professional are likely not interesting to the other.  I suspect this was to get the best possible sales from the book, as I doubt there exists a huge audience for this material.  The authors are scientists themselves, but likely recognize that exterminators are a larger market.

Still, there really isn’t anything out there that covers carpenter ants better.  Particularly interesting is the fact that the authors spent a great deal of time in Washington State and covered our most common species – Camponotus Modoc – extensively.  Unlike the majority of insect books that focus on the East coast, in this book most of the material was relevant to my area.

For me, the value in this book is the knowledge that I can let the carpenter ants live in my backyard for photography purposes, and with monitoring and a few precautions I can sharply minimize the chances that they will damage my house.  They are certainly fascinating subjects.  Someday I hope to start a nest indoors (though likely with a different species than carpenter ants) for photography purposes, though I don’t dare yet approach my wife with the idea.

Of course this book could have been written more mainstream, but given the subject it is the best source of information out there.  Therefore, if you are interested in carpenter ants I recommend this book.

BTW, if you are interested in myrmecology and ants in general, I highly recommend you visit Myrmecos’ web site.

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