Carpenter ant on thistle

The Camponotus ligniperda is a carpenter ant species, and can be from 6 to 18 millimeters long. It is the largest ant species in Central and Northwestern Europe. The body is rather glossy, the head and most of the abdomen (metasoma) is black, the thorax (mesosoma) and the legs and the front part of the metasoma is reddish brown. The size differences between the workers are significant.