I have a question about the biggest ant in the world!?

Question

I live in Northern Nevada, which is mountain/desert, and I just caught this insect. It looks like an ant, but it's the biggest ant in the world! Either that or a wingless bee. It's at least 1 1/2 inches, and his head and middle are dark. His last section is noticeably lighter, with what looks like a stripe at the end. What is this? It's so big that I can see his jaws, and right now he's washing his face!

Answer 1

hmm. An inch and a half is pretty big. (;

Perhaps it's a Camponotus modoc?

This is a picture I found that sort of fits your description..

http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/634...

And here is more information on it.

http://www.antweb.org/description.do?gen...

Good luck! (;

EDIT:  haha. I exaggerate often. Since it's only 3/4 of an inch, a carpenter ant sounds more reasonable. (;

Answer 2

well interesting but is may be dung beetle but if you found it in the desert is may be blister beetle or more rather an assasin bug.

well i hope i helped anyway.

Answer 3

lol your "Additional Details" made me laugh :D

Answer 4

I have seen 3.5 cm ant so it's a bit smaller then 1.5 inch and bigger then 3/4 inch. It was warrior type ant they are way bigger then worker type ant but smaller then the queen.

Answer 5

I'd go with your first respondent on this one; it does sound like a type of beetle.  But it's pretty hard to make a very accurate identification without a photograph of the bug.

Answer 6

its an alien bug visiting from its homeplanet.. no wait, its a monster ahhh! or or or, its a prehistoric ant that has managed to survive for thousands of years.