Hairless Smooth Carpenter Ant

Camponotus laevigatus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Formicidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Hairless Smooth Carpenter Ant
Photo: Don Loarie, CC BY

The hairless smooth carpenter ant builds its nest in dead branches of interior live oak trees. It is often confused with the more widespread ant that was formerly called C. laevigatus but is now named Camponotus laevissimus.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It nests in the dead branches of interior live oak (Quercus wislizeni).

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 13 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, Oregon, Washington.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Hairless Smooth Carpenter Ant photo 2
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Hairless Smooth Carpenter Ant photo 3
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Hairless Smooth Carpenter Ant photo 4
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Hairless Smooth Carpenter Ant photo 5
Photo: Don Loarie, CC BY

Same family (Formicidae)

Eastern Black Carpenter AntEastern Black Carpenter AntCamponotus pennsylvanicusCan damage your homeRed Imported Fire AntRed Imported Fire AntSolenopsis invictaCan stingAmerican Winter AntAmerican Winter AntPrenolepis imparisArgentine AntArgentine AntLinepithema humileNuisance, not dangerousImmigrant Pavement AntImmigrant Pavement AntTetramorium immigransCan stingOdorous House AntOdorous House AntTapinoma sessileCan damage your home

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camponotus_laevigatus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.