Alex WildMay 25

If you are starting to learn ants, this should be your first genus: Camponotus. They are found everywhere in the world, there are a lot of ecologically important species, and you'll always have a point of familiarity in any fauna.

The genus includes North America's common carpenter ants.

#Ants #Photography #Insects #Camponotus
https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Camponotus

Camponotus - Alex Wild

is abundant and diverse nearly everywhere in the world. This ubiquitous formicine genus contains our familiar carpenter ants, as well as some tropical weaver ants and desert honeypot ants.

Show threadJon SullivanMay 25
@alexwild Not quite everywhere in the world. I looked and the one record of *Camponotus* from New Zealand on #iNaturalist is some dead ants found in a crate imported from India. So, none wild here (yet). https://inaturalist.nz/observations/73777917
Indian Black Ant (Camponotus compressus)

Indian Black Ant from Kaiapoi, New Zealand on April 13, 2021 at 08:41 AM by beady_eye_anita. I found this dead worker ant in a wooden crate from India. Can anyone confirm the species?

iNaturalist NZ
Show threadAlex Wild
@joncounts New Zealand is so weird.
May 25 at 7:28pmWeb
Show threadJon SullivanMay 25
@alexwild Yup. That’s true. NZ is as weird in the things we’re missing as how weird the things are that we’ve got.