Species comparison

Camponotus lateralis vs Colobopsis truncata

Side by side: difficulty, size, growth, climate, hibernation and nuptial flights, from the data and sources of each species sheet.

Head to head

Camponotus lateralis and Colobopsis truncata compared fact by fact
Camponotus lateralisColobopsis truncata
Keeping
Difficulty
Easier4/7

Beginner

5/7

Intermediate

Escape risk
Medium
Medium
Diet
SugarInsects
SugarInsects
Best nests
Wooden nest · Ytong nest · Acrylic nest
Wooden nest · Ytong nest · Naturalistic setup
Colony
Growth
Moderate
Moderate
Colony size
Reaches 1,000 workers
Reaches 300 workers
Workers
3–7 mm

Many sizes

3–5 mm

majors up to 6 mm

Queen
8–10 mm
6–8 mm
Colony founding
Fully claustral

One queen

Fully claustral

One queen

Defense
Bites · Sprays formic acid
Bites · Sprays formic acid
Climate
Nest temperature
21–27 °C
21–28 °C
Nest humidity
40–60 %
40–60 %
Hibernation
8–12 °C

Nov – Feb

5–10 °C

Nov – Mar

Nuptial flights
Apr – May

Hot days · Calm weather

Jun – Aug
Native range
Europe, North Africa, Middle East
Europe, Middle East

Size to scale

  • Camponotus lateralis

    Workers · 3–7 mm
    Queen · 8–10 mm

  • Colobopsis truncata

    Workers · 3–5 mm
    Majors · ≤ 6 mm
    Queen · 6–8 mm
10 mm: both species are drawn at the same scale

Their year side by side

  • Camponotus lateralis : Hibernation: Nov – Feb, Nuptial flights: Apr – May

  • Colobopsis truncata : Hibernation: Nov – Mar, Nuptial flights: Jun – Aug

Months for temperate Europe and the Mediterranean. The weather decides the exact days, so flights can come earlier or later where you live.

How to tell them apart

Camponotus lateralis

Small, slender workers with a reddish-brown head (sometimes the thorax too) and a black gaster with a pale yellow edge on each segment, in sizes that grade smoothly from minors to bigger majors. They imitate Crematogaster scutellaris but have a single waist segment instead of two, and since the group has several close look-alikes such as the glossy black Camponotus piceus, a colony sold under this name can turn out to be a close relative.

  • Tip Give the colony a compact, dry, warm nest and a separate water source. It comes from dry, sunny Mediterranean woodland and does not like damp, and one keeper's colony kept its brood in a corner away from the moist part of the nest.
  • Watch out Be patient with founding queens. This is a slow starter that can take a long time to lay, and the first batch of workers is small. Keepers advise leaving a young colony in its test tube, with its water reserve, through the first winters instead of hurrying it into a nest.

Colobopsis truncata

Fast, slender minor workers with a reddish to dark brown head and thorax and a blackish gaster, often with pale dots at its base, live beside a few soldiers and a queen whose flat heads are cut off square at the front like a plug. Dolichoderus quadripunctatus shares its trees and colors, and small Camponotus such as C. lateralis look similar too, but the top edge of a minor's petiole is concave in front view, unlike in Camponotus, and in southern Iberia, Sicily and North Africa the near-identical sister species Colobopsis imitans takes its place.

  • Watch out Founding queens often fail in a plain test tube. The queens that laid and raised their first workers were given a tiny, dark chamber with a single narrow entrance to guard, such as a hollowed acorn cap, a hollow twig or a short piece of thin tubing, and keepers suspect that the size of the chamber matters more than the material.
  • Tip Offer a wooden nest or a set of half oak galls, with the entrance holes drilled in advance as German keepers advise. The ants pick one chamber, add satellite chambers later, and a soldier often sits in the entrance on guard.

More comparisons

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Camponotus lateralis sheet Colobopsis truncata sheet

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