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Product Description The carpenter ant is one of the most common and destructive pests affecting homes and businesses. However, in natural areas, these ants also play an important role in forest ecology: they break down dead wood and are the principal food source of the pileated woodpecker. In the first book devoted entirely to carpenter ants, Laurel D. Hansen and John H. Klotz cover the ants' life history and foraging behavior, then turn to their economic importance. The authors provide a comprehensive overview of carpenter ant ecology, morphology, taxonomy, and distribution as well as a detailed chapter on control and management that will appeal especially to urban pest control programs and pest management officials. Carpenter Ants of the United States and Canada is illustrated with distribution maps, 94 halftones, 52 line drawings, and 24 color plates on a four-page insert. From Booklist Carpenter ants are found all over the world, where they play a major role in forests as predators of leaf-eating insects. Like all ants, carpenter ants live in large colonies, with workers, the queen, and various other insects that live in the colony as "guests." In the first book entirely devoted to the subject, entomologists Hansen and Klotz reveal these facts and more as they examine every phase of the ants' lifestyle. From mating swarms to the founding of a new colony, foraging behavior, and the construction of nests, the authors' research as well as the extensive literature on these ants is mined for a comprehensive account. A lengthy chapter examines the economic importance and management of the most common pest species. Heavily illustrated with photos, drawings, and maps, this is a very useful addition to the literature on insects. Nancy Bent Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review "Carpenter ants are found all over the world, where they play a major role in forests as predators of leaf-eating insects. Like all ants, carpenter ants live in large colonies, with workers, the queen, and various other insects that live in the colony as 'guests.' In the first book entirely devoted to the subject, entomologists Hansen and Klotz reveal these facts and more as they examine every phase of the ants' lifestyle. From mating swarms to the founding of a new colony, foraging behavior, and the construction of nests, the authors' research as well as the extensive literature on these ants is mined for a comprehensive account. A lengthy chapter examines the economic importance and management of the most common pest species. Heavily illustrated with photos, drawings, and maps, this is a very useful addition to the literature on insects." ( Booklist) "Carpenter Ants of the United States and Canada is a very useful addition to the entomological literature. Laurel D. Hansen and John H. Klotz present a summary of what is known about a most important genus of ants, one that includes the very species with the destructive habit of nesting in our houses. This book is clearly written and comprehensive." (Thomas Eisner, Cornell University, author of For Love of Insects) "Laurel D. Hansen and John H. Klotz have put together a book that contains a wealth of information on the bionomics of the carpenter ants of the U.S. and Canada and the way these ants have become adapted to the structures of man. This book, the first of its kind, will be most useful to all who are concerned with the study and management of these pests." (Gary Bennett, Purdue University) "This book will be invaluable for all the many who like ants and want to learn more about them, or those who dislike them and want to get rid of them." (Rudolf Jander, University of Kansas) "This text is a concise and authoritative introduction on the carpenter ants that are structural pests in the United States and Canada. The authors present lucid, well-referenced chapters covering the ecology, morphology, taxonomy and distribution, life history, foraging, and econo