Most ant species have only one queen per nest. She lays the eggs, maintaining or increasing the colony size. When the colony has matured, a special brood of males and females is reared to establish new colonies. These winged adults are often mistaken for swarming termites. Termite Ants are distinguished from termites by a narrow waist and bent or elbowed antennae.
Termites have a broad waist and straight bead like antennae.
The forewings of ants are larger than the hind wings and have comparatively few veins, whereas the two pairs of wings of termites are similar in size and appearance and have many indistinct veins. The carpenter ant occurs throughout the United States and is one of the largest common ants. The body is dark brown to black in color. Although the nest is usually started in soft wood, the ants may later excavate into perfectly sound, dry lumber, for example, in porch columns and roofs, window sills, hollow core doors, firewood and telephone poles. These are made without regard for the grain and follow the softer portions of the wood.