What does the queen ant look like


1999.09.10 What does the queen ant look like?

 

A queen ant is usually biggest in the colony with her fat abdomen. --Ant

 

While it is true the queen is usually the largest ant in the colony, I personally find the most identifying trait is her large thorax (mid-section). If you compare the thorax of a queen to a worker of same species, it will be up to 4x larger than that of worker. While the abdomen is also larger -- sometimes the workers will have very enlarged abdomens while queen is not enlarged (or in egg laying phase) at all.

 

Carpenter ants have workers with nearly queen sized bodies, particularly the heads. When all else fails, check the thorax if it is about the size of the head or larger you probably have a queen. --Mr. Ant