What is "carpenter ant"

Carpenter \Car"pen*ter\, n. [OF. carpentier, F. charpentier, LL. carpentarius, fr. L. carpentum wagon, carriage.] An artificer who works in timber; a framer and builder of houses, ships, etc.

Syn: Carpenter, Joiner.

Usage: The carpenter frames and puts together roofs, partitions, floors, and other structural parts of a building. The joiner supplies stairs, doors shutters, mantelpieces, cupboards, and other parts necessary to finishing the building. In America the two trades are commonly united.

Carpenter ant (Zo["o]l.), any species of ant which gnaws galleries in the wood of trees and constructs its nests therein. They usually select dead or somewhat decayed wood. The common large American species is Formica Pennsylvanica.

Carpenter bee (Zo["o]l.), a large hymenopterous insect of the genus Xylocopa; -- so called because it constructs its nest by gnawing long galleries in sound timber. The common American species is Xylocopa Virginica.

n. Any of several large ants, of the genus (taxlink Camponotus genus noshow=1), found in North America and northern China, that build nests in dead wood

n. ant that nests in decaying wood in which it bores tunnels for depositing eggs

Carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) are large ants indigenous to many forested parts of the world.

They build nests inside wood consisting of galleries chewed out with their mandibles, preferably in dead, damp wood. They do not consume the wood, however, unlike termites. Sometimes, carpenter ants hollow out sections of trees. They also commonly infest wooden buildings and structures, and are a widespread nuisance and major cause of structural damage. One of the most familiar species associated with human habitation in the United States is the black carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus). The genus includes over 1,000 species.