Carpenter Ant Gallery Dump Site - Camponotus sp.

I always get excited when I see a tiny pile of sawdust on rotting wood. The sawdust comes from carpenter ants, who work furiously to excavate and create galleries inside the wood. Carpenter ants don’t eat wood, but they use their jaws to tear pieces of wood out of a log when creating their galleries inside.

They are very fastidious creatures and like to keep clean galleries, so they constantly push debris out of their living space. They cut slits in the wood, and below these slits, you'll see their dump site - little piles of sawdust. If you carefully inspect the dump pile, you will notice that it's not only made of wood shavings, but also insect parts and any other refuse that they don't want in their home. It's fun to watch these holes because every few minutes an ant will pop out and drop some debris.

Habitat: Rotting wood; mixed forest