Evaluation of Chemical Treatments against the black carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus)

The Camponotus pennsylvanicus ant plays a beneficial role ecologically because these ants nest in dead wood and aid in its decay. However, Camponotus pennsylvanicus ants are a common pest. They can damage the structure of houses and other infrastructure. Therefore, ensuring pest control is an important issue. Current Camponotus pennsylvanicus control measures include baits, chemical treatments, and preventative sprays (Carney 1969). In this experiment, four commonly used and readily available killing agents were tested, each with a different chemical makeup (Theil and Köhler 2016). The four different killing agents used were dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (Hot Shot), imiprothrin (.060%) (Raid), prallethrin (.02%) (No Pest), and water ammonium lauryl sulfate (Ajax/ water). The ant killing agents were tested by collecting the Camponotus pennsylvanicus ant in petri dishes. Eighty specimens were collected and these specimens were separately exposed to the four different ant killing agents during three individual trials. The efficiency of each pesticide was evaluated by comparing total averaged percent of killed ants for each killing agent gathered from the trials conducted. Data collected indicated that dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride is the most effective pesticide among the chemical treatments used against Camponotus pennsylvanicus