Can Ants Make a New Queen?
WouterSeveral questions have arisen regarding ant queens. How do they reproduce, and how does the process work? Here are some answers.
Queen ants are the highest caste in the ant society. They mate with male ants. Then they lay eggs and leave their birth colony.
If the queen dies, the colony will not produce any eggs or larvae. Instead, the workers will start to build an underground nest.
If the colony has more than one queen, they can repopulate the colony. If the colony only has one queen, the workers will try to kill the remaining queen. However, most ants will stay and continue to produce reproductives for the colony.
Ants cannot make a new queen like honey bees. Instead, the new queen relies on the workers to produce food and groom the new queen.
Some queens have wings that they use to fly. These wings break down after mating and help them to obtain nutrition. Queens usually only fly when mating. However, some queens can lay millions of eggs in a lifetime.
The first workers in a colony are called nanitics. They have been provided with a weaker body because of the short food supply. However, as the colony grows, the workers will produce more.
During the mating season, the new queen will excavate the old nest. The new queen will lay eggs and start to care for the young. This process can take several weeks. After mating, the new queen will fly off to form her own colony.
