The Pitch Ant (Camponotus piceus) is an insect in the Formicidae family of Carpenter Ants. Pitch means black.
The Pitch Ant is black with smoky-brown wings. It has a head, rounded thorax, and abdomen. It has six legs. It has a pinched-in waist. Its antennae are mid-length and bent. It has wings during the mating season – only the fertile female and adult male have wings.
It measures about 2 centimetres (one inch) long.
It is found in eastern, southern, and central Europe, north-west Africa, Asia, Central Asia, the Balkans, and the Caucasus. It prefers open, dry grasslands.
The Pitch Ant forages at night – it is nocturnal. It eats dead insects. The termite eats wood, but the Pitch Ant does not eat wood.
It is most commonly seen in late spring and early summer when it is mating.
The life cycle is egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
The Pitch Ant mates in the air during nuptial flight. The winged male dies after mating. The fertile female looks for a nesting site on the ground. When she has found a nest, her wings drop off. She eats the wings for nourishment.
She builds a nest in wood for her eggs. She lays about 20 eggs. The worker ants (female ants) look after the eggs. The eggs hatch into larvae (grubs), which undergo metamorphosis (by pupating in a cocoon) to become adult ants.
Location of photographs: Tbilisi, Georgia
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM