Can't seem to find this guy on the internet so I'm not sure what it is. For some reason it was in the house in our dog's empty food dish by our garage entry.
It's about 1/4 inch long. Despite the lighting in the picture, it has a pale yellow/almost clear abdomen. Head is dark brown. Looks like hairs along the entire abdomen. Not 100% sure but looks like a single petiole on the thorax.
Can't seem to find an exact replica in pictures but almost positive is a carpenter. GAH.
You might check out the Texas A&M publication "House-infesting ants and their management" at http://tinyurl.com/chbpou; there are at least 14 species of carpenter ants known from Texas, see http://tinyurl.com/2bhxzel for a complete list of species. Aldo, you might take specimens such as this to your county office of Texas A&M University's Cooperative Extension service (see http://tinyurl.com/2acksml for contact information) for assistance in identification and/or control recommendations.
