Black Carpenter Ant Soldier Aggressive Posture Postcard

She's no lady! A carpenter ant (Camponotus) soldier assumes an aggressive posture and tries to bite the camera, captured here in dramatic black and white. Her ferocious mandibles or jaws are extended and she's ready to deliver a hefty pinch. Carpenter ants are a largely female-dominant species. These ants are important to the ecosystem as their activities, such as chewing wood into sawdust, or cleaning up dead insects, help maintain a healthy level of natural decomposition and a balanced ecology. However they can also undermine the stability of human habitations. <br><br> The nest is created of different sized ants. Within the carpenter ant colony, small worker ants forage for food and help care for the young. Medium sized and large worker ants become soldiers, like this one, to defend the ant nest, food source or ant trails to food. While they like wood for building homes, the sawdust comes from their colonies of intricate tunnel systems. Carpenter ants do not eat wood. They enjoy a varied diet of dead insects, insect parts, honeydew produced by aphids, tree sap and sugary liquids. They are known to be farmers, tending their own aphid herds for the honeydew. Aphids tended by ants are found to have a higher survival rate than aphids who aren't. It's a fine example of a natural sympbiotic relationship. Black carpenter ant soldier image by M Sylvia Chaume, Canada.