Content
Ants are one of the few animals that have managed colonize the world, as they are found on all continents, with the exception of Antarctica. To date, more than 14,000,000 species of ants have been identified, but it is believed that there are many more. Some of these ant species co-evolved with other species, developing many symbiotic relationships, including slavery.
Ants have been so successful, in part, thanks to their complex social organization, becoming a superorganism in which a single caste has the function of reproducing and perpetuating the species. If you find this subject interesting, we invite you to continue reading this article by PeritoAnimal, where we will explain, among other things, how ants reproduce, how many eggs an ant lays and how many times they reproduce.
Ant society: eusociality
O ant scientific name é ant-killers, and they are a group of animals that organize themselves in a eusociality, the highest and most complex form of social organization in the animal world. It is characterized by the caste organization, one breeding and the other infertile, which is often called the worker caste. This type of society only occurs in some insects, such as ants, bees and wasps, some crustaceans and in a single species of mammal, the naked mole rat (heterocephalus glaber).
Ants live in eusociality, and organize themselves so that one ant (or several, in certain cases) acts as breeding female, to what we popularly know as "Queen". His daughters (never his sisters) are the workers, performing functions such as taking care of the offspring, collecting food and building and expanding the anthill.
Some of them are in charge of protecting the colony and, instead of workers, they are called soldier ants. They are much larger than workers, but smaller than the queen, and have a more developed jaw.
Ant reproduction
To explain the ant reproduction, we will start from a mature colony, in which the queen ant, the workers and soldiers. An anthill is considered mature when it has approximately 4 years of life, depending on the species of ant.
The ants' reproduction period occurs throughout the year in the tropical zones of the world, but in temperate and cold areas, only during the hottest seasons. When it's cold, the colony goes into inactivity or hibernation.
The queen is able to put fertile unfertilized eggs throughout his life, which will give way to workers and soldiers, one type or the other being born depending on the hormones and food ingested during the first two phases of his life. These ants are haploid beings (they have half the normal number of chromosomes for the species). a queen ant can lay between one and several thousand eggs in a few days.
At a given time, the queen ant lays special (hormone-mediated) eggs, even though they are similar in appearance to the others. These eggs are special because they contain the future queens and males. At this point, it is important to emphasize that females are haploid individuals and males are diploid (normal number of chromosomes for the species). This is because only the eggs that will produce males are fertilized. But how is it possible that they are fertilized if there are no males in an ant colony?
If you are interested in this type of animals, see: The 13 most exotic animals in the world
Ants' Bridal Flight
When future queens and males mature and develop their wings under the care of the colony, given the ideal climatic conditions of temperature, hours of light and humidity, the males fly out of the nest and gather in certain areas with other males. When everyone is together, the bridal flight of the ants, the same as saying that they are animals mating, in which they perform movements and release pheromones that attract new queens.
Once they arrive at this place, they unite and perform copulation. A female can mate with one or several males, depending on the species. The fertilization of ants is internal, the male introduces the sperm inside the female, and she keeps it in a spermtheca until it should be used for the new generation of fertile ants.
When copulation ends, the males die and females look for a place to bury and hide.
Birth of a new ant colony
The winged female that copulated during the bridal ball and managed to hide will remain underground for the rest of your life. These first moments are crucial and dangerous, as she will have to survive with the energy accumulated during her growth in her colony of origin and can even eat her own wings, until she lays her first fertile unfertilized eggs, which will give rise to the first workers.
These workers are called nurses, are smaller than normal and have a very short life (a few days or weeks). They will be in charge of starting the construction of the anthill, collecting the first foods and caring for the eggs that will produce the permanent workers. This is how an ant colony is born.
If you liked to know how ants reproduce, see also: Most poisonous insects in Brazil
If you want to read more articles similar to How Ants Reproduce, we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.