Camponotus vagus

Large black ants that vary in size. The worker ant is an average of 9mm in length where the larger major ant are there for defence of the colony. A colony can contain up to 10,000 ants. Commonly found in dry places and normally nest in dead wood which they chew up for nesting. This is where the name originates from. Photographed in the Algarve region of Portugal.