Workers and queens are bicolored, having a reddish-orange head and a bright to dullish orange colored mesosoma and legs, contrasted sharply by a deep black gaster.

The unusual aggression of this Camponotus species may be an adaptation in response to its nesting habits, as they commonly inhabit extensively rotted deadwood that can easily be broken apart by hand.

In certain areas these ants can be quite populous and during mating flights the winged individuals numerous, leading to concerned property owners finding them on the walls of stores, buildings, and homes.

These ants are not generally considered a threat to structures as they do not normally excavate into wood, unlike some wood-boring species of Camponotus, instead preferring existing cavities to nest in.

The Florida carpenter ant is omnivorous, taking arthropod food items as well as sweets, such as nectar or the sugary secretions produced by aphids in which they care for and defend.

Like other Camponotus, they have their own species of symbiotic bacteria in the genus Blochmannia that inhabit bacteriocytes in their midgut to supplement their nitrogen-poor diets.

[6] Ecologists have discovered that Florida carpenter ants instinctively perform the behavior of amputation of nestmate's injured legs.

More phylogenetic and biochemical analysis is needed to determine the evolutionary history between C. floridanus and C. atriceps and in order ascertain the former's status as a separate species or a subspecies.