mtrein: Biggest european Camponotus (31. Okt 2011 22:20)

Hi, can anyone tell me what size are the queens and workers for the three or four biggest european Camponotus subspecies? I have searched but I could not find this information easily, and there is a lot of contradicting information.

Anonymous: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (31. Okt 2011 22:44)

Very big Camponotus subspecies are Camponotus cruentatus (queen about 18mm; workers about 8-16mm)
and Camponotus ligniperdus (queen about 17mm; workers about 5-16mm).
Another very big subspecies is Camponotus barbaricus (queen about 18mm and workers between 8mm and 16mm).
Only Camponotus ligniperdus lives in North-Europe, the others in South-Europe.
Regards, AIS

mtrein: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (31. Okt 2011 23:23)

Thanks AIS!

How big would Camponotus vagus be? And is it safe to say the biggest ant species in Europe is Camponotus?

Morphium: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (31. Okt 2011 23:42)

Camponotus v agus Queen is about 14-16mm and the workers about 6-12. Camponotus spec. actually is the biggest in Europe!

mtrein: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (1. Nov 2011 00:21)

Thanks, Morphium.

Just as a comparison, what is the biggest Messor sp. in europe and how big would be queens and workers?

maczek: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (1. Nov 2011 13:22)

Biggest european Camponotus is Camponotus ligniperdus, my queen is 19mm long.
I think, the biggest Messor, is Messor barbarus, queen is ~15mm long :)

Sorry for my bad English. : (

mtrein: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (1. Nov 2011 13:28)

Thank you, Maczek! And your English is very good =c]

baumarkthammer: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (1. Nov 2011 15:37)

The biggest for sure is Camponotus ligniperdus. Hard to tell which is the second since Camponotus aethiops and Camponotus vagus look very alike and are nearly same size.
Camponotus ligniperdus sometimes lives in South Europe but is very rare there just as Camponotus vagus here, the two species live in pretty much the same nests and have a livestyle that is very alike that is why they can´t coexist.

There aren´t many small species anyway exept Camponotus truncatus. There also is Camponotus piceus in the south but their size is something in between Camponotus aethiops and Camponotus fallax.

Camponotus cruentatus is a little smaller than Camponotus ligniperdus but I only saw them once or twice in direct comperession.

mtrein: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (1. Nov 2011 16:05)

Thanks, Kaj. We could perhaps create some kind of list of sizes for queens and workers (and other castes as appropriate) and leave it as a sticky somewhere in the forum, I'm sure it would be helpful for people who are thinking of getting a particular species. I didn't find such information. I would start it but I have very limited knowledge on sizes. I can contribute with sizes of species that I find here in the south of Brazil.

Morphium: Re: Biggest european Camponotus (1. Nov 2011 17:53)

Just google the species and youll get the size!

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