How Do Ants Reproduce?
WouterUnlike fish, birds and other animals, ants do not reproduce without a queen. However, this is not the case for most species. Queens are female members of an established colony. They spend their lives laying eggs.
Queens are also larger than other members of the colony. They have wings and a bigger gaster. They can lay hundreds or thousands of eggs a day. However, they cannot reproduce like workers can.
Workers care for the queen, and may also produce males when the queen dies. They also police the colony, limiting unfertilized eggs. They also tend new larvae and pupae. They can carry a larva from another subcolony to their own nest.
In most ant species, a queen can reproduce only once, while other ants are sterile. The queen produces the first group of eggs, and then the workers reproduce. During the mating season, the queen lays hundreds or thousands of eggs. After mating, the queen leaves the birth colony and goes to a new one.
In some species, a queen can lay millions of eggs in a lifetime. This is why they are referred to as super colonies. They can be as large as 25 feet underground. These colonies have several up to a million queens. They may not be as stable as native populations, because they can be invasive.
A few species of ants also have two or more queens. These queens produce alates, which are a type of egg that will eventually reproduce and form a new colony. These alates are produced in a nest as far away from the surface as possible, to avoid predators.
