How do ants reproduce?

Ants are one of the few animals that have managed to colonize the world, They are found on all continents except for Antarctica.To date, more than 14,000 species of ants have been identified, but it is believed that there are many more.Some of these species of ants have coevolved with other species, developing many relationships of symbiosis, including slavery.

Ants have been so successful, in part, thanks to their complex social organization, becoming a superorganism, where only one breed has the function of reproducing and perpetuating the species.You find this topic interesting, we invite you to continue reading this article of Animals and Pets Online, where we explain, among other things, how the ants reproduce , how many eggs an ant lays or how many times the ants reproduce.

The eusocity of ants

An eusociety is the highest and most complex form of social organization in the animal world.It is characterized by organizing in castes , a reproductive and another 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 eusociety, are organized so that an ant (or several in certain cases) acts as female reproductive , what we popularly know as "queen ".Her daughters (never her sisters) are the workers, carrying out functions such as care of the offspring, food collection and construction and expansion of the anthill.

Some of them take care of the protection of the colony and, instead of workers, they are called soldier ants.They have a size far superior to the workers, but I nor to the queen, they also have the most developed jaw.

The reproduction of ants

To explain the reproduction of ants, we will start from a mature colony, in which there is a queen, workers and warriors.An anthill is considered mature when it has approximately 4 years of life , depending on the species of ant.

The reproduction time of the ants occurs throughout the year in tropical areas of the world, but in the temperate and cold areas it only occurs in warmer times.When it is cold the colony enters into inactivity or hibernation .

The queen is able to lay unfertilized fertile eggs throughout her life, which will result to the workers and soldiers, that one type or another is born depends on the hormones and the food ingested during the first phases of their life.These ants are haploid beings (it has half the normal number of chromosomes of the species).A queen ant you can lay between one and several thousand eggs in a few days .

E At a particular time, the queen ant lays special eggs (hormone-mediated), although apparently they are the same as the rest.These eggs are special because they contain the future queens and males .Arrived at this point It is important to note that females are haploid individuals and diploid males (normal number of chromosomes for the species).This is so, because only the eggs that produce males are fertilized, but how could these eggs have been fertilized if no males in an ant colony?

The bridal flight of ants

When future queens and males mature and develop their wings under the care of the colony, and the ideal weather conditions of temperature, hours of light and humidity occur, the males fly out of the anthill and gather in certain areas with other males, when everyone is gathered, the bridal flight of the ants begins, in which they deploy movements and release some pheromones that attract the new queens.

Once they arrive at the place, they mate and the copula is produced .A female can copulate with one or several males, depending on the species.Ants are internal, the male introduces the sperm inside the female and this will keep it in a spermatch until it must be used for the new generation of fertile ants.

Once the copulates, males die and females look for a place to bury and hide.

Birth of a new colony

The winged female who copulated during the bridal dance and managed to hide, will remain underground for the rest of her life .These first moments are crucial and dangerous, because she must survive with energy accumulated during their growth in their home colony, they can even eat their own wings, until they lay the first fertile eggs not fertilized, which will give rise to the first workers.

These workers are called nurses , they are of a smaller size than normal, they have a very short life (a few days or weeks) and will be responsible for the beginning of the construction of the anthill , collect the first foods and take care of the eggs that will be produced by the definitive workers.If an ant colony is born.

If you want to read more articles similar to How do ant reproduce s? , we recommend that you enter our Curiosities section of the animal world.

Bibliography

HANNONEN, M., SLEDGE, MF, TURILLAZZI, S., SUNDSTRO , L.(2002).Animal behavior, 64, 477-485.

Kuzcenov, N.(1962).The nuptial flight of ants.Act Zoologica Lilloana, 18, 385-442.

WILSON, E.0.(2016).The origin and evolution of polymorphism in ants.Biological Laboratories, Harvard University.

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