Development and reproduction of ants
- Fact:
The female is fertilized once; she will use this seminal fluid throughout her life. - Fact 2:
Until the first population of worker ants appears, the queen does not eat anything; she feeds the larvae with the contents of her fatty glands, from which she feeds herself. - Fact 3:
The body of a worker ant has a durable chitinous shell and three distinct sections: head, belly, and sternum. - Fact 4:
The queen queen lives the longest, for two decades. But there were also cases of longer life expectancy. The recorded maximum is 28 years.
In every ant colony there is a clear hierarchy. One can only envy such a structured and organized community. Each family member has his own status, his own role, his own responsibilities and even a diet according to his needs.
Reproduction
The honorable responsibility to increase the size of the colony rests with the queen . She is royalty and does nothing but lay eggs. She is protected, guarded, and some species even chew food for her.
How to become a queen? During summer (mating season), certain females and males acquire wings and fly out of the anthill to mate. The female is fertilized once; she will spend this seminal fluid throughout her life . Males die either after an act of love, or they are destroyed by their relatives themselves as unnecessary.
After fertilization, the female looks for a suitable place for the first egg laying. If everything goes well (she will not die, will not become a victim of bird hunting, and will be able to make a full clutch), then “Vivat Queen!”, the foundation of the future underground ant kingdom is ready. After 14-20 days, the egg clutch will pupate, and after another 25-40 the first ants will appear. This is a working group. He will begin to build and expand the anthill, store food and care for the next generation of ants. The female chews off her wings and from now on is only engaged in reproducing new members of the colony.
Until the first population of worker ants appears, the queen does not eat anything; she feeds the larvae with the contents of her fatty glands, from which she feeds herself.
Ant Reproduction
Ants are insects whose lifestyle is defined as social. They live in colonies in anthills built in wood or soil. Ant reproduction is a rather interesting process. The female, called the queen, produces offspring herself, constantly being in the nest.
About the life of ants
The ant family contains:
- queen (female, queen);
- males;
- larvae;
- working individuals.
Thanks to formic acid, these insects very easily navigate the terrain and very easily find the right path even in the most complex labyrinth. They also use formic acid when defending their home or when attacking an enemy. Since these insects do not know how to live alone, they feel most comfortable in the company of their relatives.
Every ant family has a personal space that is protected from other insects. There, insects create paths, the order of which is constantly monitored by working individuals. Such paths can be very long. For example, inside an anthill their length can sometimes reach seven kilometers.
It happens that conflicts occur between individual ants inside the nest, after which weak individuals are forced to flee, taking the larvae with them.
Reproduction of house ants
The size of the female house ant is much larger than that of ordinary working ants. If we talk about how ants reproduce, the process begins with mating.
In the female it occurs only once in her life, despite the fact that she can live for about 12 years. At first she has wings, which she needs for the mating flight.
Immediately after fertilization, the female bites off her wings - they are no longer needed.
Eggs are laid in a secluded place, which the female finds on her own. After 2-3 weeks, larvae begin to emerge from the eggs. After about six months, they pupate, and after some time, worker ants begin to appear.
Until this time, the female does not feed at all. She feeds the larvae using special glands that secrete nutrients using the so-called female fat.
Immediately after their appearance, the worker ants begin to search for food for the queen and larvae. The female can lay eggs throughout the year. Males develop from unfertilized eggs. They also have wings for mating flight. However, immediately after mating the males die.
Peculiarities of reproduction of forest ants
Unlike a colony of domestic insects, in forest ant families there can be only one queen, which produces offspring. Winged individuals fly out to mate in late May–early June. Usually the number of individuals in the wood ant family is small.
An interesting fact is that only insects of one sex appear in one colony. This pattern makes inbreeding impossible, which prevents degeneration.
Females lay eggs in quantities that sometimes amount to several hundred. After a while, males, females or working individuals emerge from them. The number of insects in each family is regulated by its needs.
Ants. The Secret Power of Nature: Video
ANTS ARE BREEDING! THE PASSES OPENED! STRANGER IN ANANT HILL!
MY ANTS ARE BREEDING!
SLIVKI SHOW AND NEW ANTS!
Mating the Myrmica SP queen at home! Ants life
Source: https://beyklopov.ru/muravi/obshie-svedeniya-muravi/razmnozhenie-muraviov.html
Stages of ant development: from egg to adult
An ant is an insect with all the stages of transformation inherent in it:
- Egg.
- Larval form.
- Pupation.
- Adult ant.
The queen lays eggs in groups of several dozen eggs. When the incubation period expires, a new form will be born - larvae. They look like small worms and only at this stage they absorb food around the clock and increase in mass and size. Small larvae lead a group existence, while large ones live separately.
The next stage of transformation is the formation of a pupa. Before modification, the larva does not eat and excretes excrement in the form of a ball (they are then located at the end of the pupa). After the time spent in the pupa has expired, a full-fledged adult ant emerges from it. But he himself cannot leave the solid walls of the cocoon; his fellow tribesmen help him get out. The newborn has a colorless body, which becomes the color characteristic of this species only after a few days. From the moment the young insect acquires its specific color, it stops growing. All stages of transformation take about a month.
Structure of the torso and brain
The ant has a rather complex organism. All numerous species are approximately identical in structure. Worker ants do not have wings, but females and males do during the mating season.
The body of a worker ant has a durable chitinous shell and three distinct sections: head, belly, sternum . The head has different shapes and sizes depending on the species. The head is equipped with eyes consisting of numerous lenses. The organs of vision do not see objects, but recognize movement. In addition, there is a small additional pair of eyes to determine the degree of illumination.
Ants use their antennae to communicate. They recognize odors, detect air currents, vibrations, and decipher touches. Some species have a sting on their belly. It is necessary for protection, hunting or attack.
Three pairs of limbs are equipped with claws. With their help, the ant easily overcomes vertical ascent.
What is the role of the queen among house ant species?
The main unit of the entire population of such insects is the uterus. She will not clean the anthill, protect other individuals, or obtain food. The main role of the queen is the constant laying of eggs and ensuring the constant replenishment of the colony with new representatives. The further survival and well-being of all ants depends on the well-being and productivity of such a parasite. The relationship between the queen and other members in house ant colonies is very specific, so the species quickly spread and survived even in the harshest conditions.
There is enough information about ants, but not everyone considers it necessary to describe in detail the vital functions of the queen. You need to pay attention to specialized agents that act by contact and can be transferred to the main unit of the colony. Only in this way will it be possible to forget about the invasion of parasites at home forever in the shortest possible time.
As for ordinary house ants, the queen will be several times larger than ordinary working units and can reach up to four millimeters in length. Among the differences in the color of the insect, one should highlight a rich dark brown shade with clearly visible stripes on the lower part in the abdomen area.
Compared to an ordinary worker queen:
- Larger;
- Less mobile;
- Has enlarged breasts;
- No wings.
The main difficulty in the fight against ordinary domestic pharaoh ants is that the female, ready for fertilization, does not leave and establish a separate colony. Thus, among one population there can be several queens at once.
Sexual characteristics
Development by gender has the following mechanism: fertilized eggs are future females, and unfertilized eggs are males. Having received seminal fluid once and for all, the uterus consumes it in portions, so not all eggs are fertilized, but only partially .
Eggs that do not receive a male chromosome have only the maternal chromosome set and in the future they will be guaranteed to be males. From fertilized eggs, there are two options for the development of females: either a female for further reproduction, or a soldier ant. The final result depends on diet and care.
Which ants can accept a new queen
Or not. In multiqueen species, no problems arise at all, because all the queens reproduce there, and not just one. Sometimes ants are able to accept a new young queen to replace the dead one. This is often used by various social parasites and slave owners. For example, a Lasius umbratus queen is introduced into an orphaned Lasius niger family, and the ants happily accept her. The same situation occurs in families of ants of the subgenus Serviformica, which are invaded by Formica, Raptiformica and Polyergus.
The queens of all these ants can be relatively easily introduced into home ant farms. Things are worse with the well-known harvester ants (Messor): they are extremely intolerant of new queens, but, on the contrary, they protect the old one and carry it around the nest chambers for some time, even in the form of separate parts.
Life cycle duration
The role an insect plays in its colony directly determines how long it will live.
A worker ant lives from 3 to 5 years . At the same time, smaller specimens take a little longer. Also, more life is given to those who perform the functions of a builder inside the anthill. Those whose duties include caring for the queen and larvae live less.
The males were less fortunate than the others. They are not needed as soon as they fulfill the role of a fertilizer. Moreover, they will be killed by their own relatives or die themselves after mating. Life cycle – 2-3 weeks.
The queen queen lives the longest, two decades. But there were also cases of longer life expectancy. The recorded maximum is 28 years.
