I've decided to start a new journal featuring a variety of Camponotus species. I will be retiring my old Camponotus sansabeanus journal and featuring them here. With that being said, I've felt like some of my past journals haven't been as good or maintained as well as I would like. It may come from the ridiculous amount of colonies I have which often leads me to feel overwhelmed at times. I want to hopefully turn over a new leaf with this journal and try to do a better job and be a bit more thorough in my documentation. I've often pondered what it is that makes a good journal and I think there are some great ones out there right now that can be used as an example for me. So if I copy your format, take it as a compliment!
I have always loved Camponotus ants. Ever since I started learning about ants a few years ago, I knew Camponotus was one of the genera I wanted to raise. I think it has to do with their size. They're easier to observe, and I enjoy being able to see when they're storing food in their gaster. Its fortunate (and unfortunate) that they grow slowly in the beginning, as it allows me to keep many species at once and document their progress, but I'm sure at some point this will become overwhelming if I succeed.
With that being said, let's just start alphabetically and jump into it.
Camponotus modoc
This species if often considered to be one of the larger species of Camponotus in Utah. It seems they are exclusively found in the higher elevations starting at around 7,000 feet and above. They are easily identified by their black body and red legs. I have a bit of a checkered past with this species. When I first got into ant keeping in November of 2022, I was too late to find any of my own queens and I was too impatient to wait for spring, so I reached out via the GAN program to an ant keeper near me (UtahAnts) who sold me a Camponotus modoc queen. They were the first species I ever kept. Unfortunately, being new, mistakes were made and the queen died within a month or two after surviving all of diapause in my garage. I then bought another modoc queen from UtahAnts and the same fate befell them, both times due to a lack of water I believe.
Being that they were my first, and that I have yet to raise even a remotely successful colony (past 4 workers), I am determined to have a successful colony of these one day. It feels like something I just need to do and gosh dangit I'm going to do it if its the last thing I do! However, I may be in a bit of a prediciment as I only have one modoc queen at the moment I caught almost a year to date and she only has two workers, a cocoon, and 2-3 larvae. It has taken a very long time for her to even get two workers. I'm not sure if this is just how modoc are. I know Camponotus is a very slow growing species, but this still seems pretty low. I guess I have the rest of the year to see how much they grow.
I'm in my third year of ant keeping, and I have only ever come across three modoc queens total. In my second year I found two on a hike crawling across a hiking trail during broad daylight. This is the only Camponotus species I have ever seen in daylight out crawling around. Due to their nocturnal nature and the fact that their flights occur at night I always come across Camponotus queens under rocks or logs the next day. One of the queens (pictured) had no wings, and the other had wings. The winged queen must not have mated as she never went on to produce any eggs and after caring for her for six months she died. I recently came across another modoc queen on a hike two weeks ago with wings crawling across the trail. I decided to let her go her own way. My theory is that it must be cool or dark enough in the day in the higher elevations that Camponotus modoc queens are having their flights during mid-day, as I almost always have seen them on heavily forested parts of the trails.
I'm about to begin my heavy hiking season into the higher elevations (the snow is finally melting up there) so hopefully I'll have some more opportunities to find other modoc queens.
Camponotus nearcticus
These are considered to be the smallest species of Camponotus in Utah. This is my first time ever finding one of these queens, which I found last week on a hiking trail in a canyon. At first I mistook her for some genus I haven't seen before, but I kept thinking she looked like a Camponotus. Having never seen a nearcticus queen before, I wasn't sure how much smaller she would be. To me she seems barely bigger than a Tetramorium queen. She appears to have finally settled down and has stopped tearing at the cotton ball in an attempt to escape. She has laid two eggs and appears much calmer. Due to their small nature, I've heard these colonies grow quite quickly for Camponotus. I'm excited to see how she progresses.
Camponotus ocreatus
From the moment I saw a picture of this species online I knew had to have them one day. I recently met someone on the Utah Ant Keeping facebook group who finds these queens so I purchased one from him. I do indeed think this is the largest Camponotus queen I have ever seen. He said he believes they are the biggest species in Utah. They are absolutely stunning, and are definitely a dream species of mine. I have high hopes for this colony, and hope to one day find some of my own, but they seem to be almost exclusively on the very southern border of Utah (a 4-5 hour drive from my location). This queen and her four workers are currently in a THA Mini Hearth. They appear to have a few cocoons, and hopefully some eggs, but the picture isn't the greatest as the glass is a little dirty so its hard to tell. So far in the month that I've had them I haven't seen a worker come up to forage for anything. I know this can be quite common with Camponotus since they're more active at night, but usually by now I have at least seen something happen. They seem to be doing fine though so I'm going to trust the process with these. Eventually I'm going to move them into a top down formicarium for a bit better viewing so I can appreciate their colors.
Camponotus sansabeanus
Another dream species of mine. From the moment I saw their awesome majors with black heads I wanted some of these. I was quite thrilled when I found ten queens my very first year, as it seems most Utah keepers don't tend to find these. I find them almost exclusively in the desert in juniper pinyon pine biomes under rocks, logs, and even cow pies. I've also noticed that they tend to prefer rocks that get some degree of shade, which goes against what I've always been told with ants liking rocks with lots of sun. My theory behind this is that the biomes I find them in are so dry and hot that they don't need to prioritize heat, but they prioritize water, and the stones that catch the shade of the trees seem to be more moist underneath and for longer. Very important in areas where it doesn't rain much.
The queens and workers are actually a bit on the smaller side of Camponotus, but they make up for it with their stunning colors. They kind of remind me of little golden honey pot workers. There is a dark and light variant of this species, but I'm not sure which I have. I suspect it may be the light, but I guess I won't know for sure until I catch queens of both.
If you're interested in catching up on the two strongest colonies that I kept from my first year, you can read their journal here, (which will be retired) or I'll give you the short version now. I had two colonies, Colony A and Colony B both living in simple Perfect Cast formicaria I created. Colony A produced far more workers in their first round than any of the other queens. Colony A went on to produce 50ish workers at their peak in their second year, but something went wrong when entering their third year (this year) and the colony faced three major die off events back to back with the last one eventually claiming the queen. I suspect something was wrong with the nest or some kind of bacteria has grown in it that couldn't be seen, as the queen spent the last three weeks prior to her death outside of the nest and in the outworld. Colony B did not produce workers as quickly, however they did produce two major workers in their second year. One seemed to have had some kind of problem eclosing and didn't make it, but the other went on to survive through diapause but died shortly after exiting diapause. Colony B peaked at 25 workers before diapause. Upon exiting they had a small die off, but are once again back up to 25 workers. They seem to be completely unaffected by what happened to Colony A despite being a mere two inches away. They only seem to have one median as well where as Colony A had about 6-8 before the die offs.
Here they are in all of their glory. Hopefully they go on to survive and produce majors and alates, which was my main goal for them. It's taken two years to get to this point, so it would be very disappointing if they both die and I have to start over with the queens I caught from this year. Camponotus have such slow growth, but sansabeanus does feel a bit faster than others due to their size.
Here is a box of sansabeanus queens (and a few vicinus). I have another box with seven other sansabeanus as well that I found this year. I plan to take another two or three of these queens and found colonies (I'm serious about succeeding with this species). I have found three hot spots for them that I check up on every spring, and make sure not to over harvest the areas to ensure the species goes on to thrive and those spots remain hotspots for many years to come.
This is their little outworld I created recently. Camponotus sansabeanus doesn't seem to be a species that has a strong feeding response. They often don't seem as hungry as my other Camponotus, and I only sometimes catch them eating. They seem quite timid.
Camponotus vicinus (black variant)
I found this queen under a rock during my first year. She had a small colony of eight workers, that strangely was mostly comprised of medians and majors. It was identified on Formiculture as a black variant of Camponotus vicinus. At the time I didn't realize that these actually seem to be quite rare in Utah compared to the other variant. I have only found two black vicinus queens besides this colony and probably fifty of the red orangey and black vicinus. This colony lost all of its median/major workers during its first diapause and was down to three workers, but in their second year bounced back to eight workers before diapause. After diapause this year, one worker quickly eclosed, but recently there has been significant growth in the last three weeks with another eleven workers joining the colony putting their numbers to twenty. Hoping to see some big continued growth from this colony this year as they're entering their third year which is when I hear the most explosive growth happens in Camponotus.
Here is their little outworld I made some time last year. It was one of the first I created. There always seem to be at least one worker foraging, and if there isn't they come out very quickly after I put protein in.
Camponotus vicinus (orangey-black variant)
This variant of the Camponotus vicinus is the most commonly found Camponotus species in Utah. I have seen them in nearly every biome and at varying elevations. I suspect this is because of their hardy nature. To me they seem to be the easiest of the Camponotus to raise, and I believe this has led to them being found almost anywhere. They grow at a good pace despite their decent size, and they seem to produce majors much faster than any other Camponotus I've seen and in numbers that seemer higher in the early stages.
The queens are actually quite large, definitely on the larger side for Utah. Despite being a common "trash ant" I find them quite entertaining. The queens always seem large and physogastric. I find their coloration to actually be pretty cool! They are also known to be polygynous, but I have never come across a polygynous colony here. I have two colonies of this vicinus variant, one that has been a bit neglected unfortunately, but I'm working on fixing that and getting them a better setup, but my main colony is actually my largest Camponotus colony with around 60-70 workers. I've come to love them a lot. Both queens I caught in the same area I found my first ten sansabeanus queens. At first, in my noobish state, I mistook them for larger sansabeanus queens, but alas they are vicinus!
They are currently in a THA Discus formicarium. Its probably a bit big for them but they've continued to thrive in it. They have started to store some trash in part of it though, so I probably need move them to another nest at some point. But they continue to grow quickly, seem very hardy, and have grown at a very fast pace this year. I'm a bit nervous to see how big they are by end of year. They have good piles of all three stages of brood.
They are enjoying the new large outworld I created them recently. They almost always have ten workers in the outworld, and they accept protein daily. I've also noted that unlike all of my other Camponotus colonies, now that their numbers have increased so has their aggression. They are no longer the timid carpenter ants I knew in their youth! They often lunge and attack my tweezers and the dead insects I put in, and their response to protein is quick and calculated. They've become my favorite Camponotus to watch because of this.
Camponotus laevissimus
I know what you're thinking. Oh ho ho, the absolute fool! L doesn't come after V! This isn't in alphabetical order! I was going to include this first, but hear me out. I caught two Camponotus laevissimus queens this year (my first time finding this species), but one has died and the other I thought was dead and came back from the dead and doesn't seem to have full function of her legs. However, she has produced brood and seems to be holding on. I hope to find another laevissimus and include them in this journal, as their shiny black color is quite striking. However I don't think the colony I have is worth including as they don't seem to be doing great. I didn't feel like starting my journal with a species I wasn't even going to feature at the moment was a great hook.
Conclusion
There are still more Camponotus species in Utah to be found! If I can find them I will raise them and document them in this journal.
That was very long. Thank you for reading if you made it this far. I'm trying to be more thorough in my posts, but hopefully it wasn't too much. I assume future updates won't be as long. If there is anything you'd like to see more of, or any advice to give me for this journal I'd appreciate it. I would love to improve the quality of my journals.
