Carpenter Ant vs Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Carpenter Ant Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle
Scientific Name Camponotus pennsylvanicus Passalus unicornis
Order Hymenoptera Coleoptera
Family Formicidae Passalidae
Size 6-13 mm 30-45 mm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Wood Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Eastern North America Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, DRC, Congo)
Conservation Not Evaluated Least Concern

Carpenter Ant

The largest common ant in North America, excavating smooth galleries in dead wood for nesting. Unlike termites, they do not eat wood but merely remove it to create living space.

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Did You Know?

Injured workers that cannot keep up during colony relocations are carried by nestmates to the new site.

Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle

A large, flattened bess beetle with a shiny black body and a small horn on the head. Adults and larvae live together in rotting logs in a subsocial arrangement. Adults produce sounds by rubbing their hindwings against the abdomen.

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Did You Know?

Parents feed their larvae pre-chewed wood and communicate with them using stridulatory sounds, one of the few examples of parental care in beetles.