Indian Black Ant

Camponotus compressus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Formicidae

Also called: Common Godzilla Ant

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Indian Black Ant
Photo: Subhadra Devi, CC BY

These ants can appear red, black, or slightly yellow in colour. They often enter toilets because they feed on urea and they tend sap-sucking insects, stroking them with their antennae to harvest honeydew.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The ants range from red to black and sometimes look a bit yellow.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

They are common visitors to toilets where they consume urea.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

They tend plant-sap-sucking insects such as aphids and tree-hoppers. The ants stroke the insects’ hind parts with their antennae to make them excrete honeydew, which the ants then eat.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Indian Black Ant photo 2
Photo: Sagnik Dutta Roy, CC BY
Indian Black Ant photo 3
Photo: Navaneeth Sini George, CC BY
Indian Black Ant photo 4
Photo: Emanuele Santarelli, CC BY-SA
Indian Black Ant photo 5
Photo: Aparna Shyam, CC BY

Questions people ask

Why are these ants showing up in my bathroom?

They are attracted to toilets because they feed on urea found there.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Formicidae)

Eastern Black Carpenter AntEastern Black Carpenter AntCamponotus pennsylvanicusCan damage your homeRed Imported Fire AntRed Imported Fire AntSolenopsis invictaCan stingAmerican Winter AntAmerican Winter AntPrenolepis imparisArgentine AntArgentine AntLinepithema humileNuisance, not dangerousImmigrant Pavement AntImmigrant Pavement AntTetramorium immigransCan stingOdorous House AntOdorous House AntTapinoma sessileCan damage your home

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camponotus_compressus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

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