Carpenter Ants Reproduction

The function of reproduction is performed by the queen and by males. The queen lives inside the anthill, is bigger than the other ants, loses her wings after fertilization and lays eggs during her whole life. The males appear only when it is necessary to fertilize a new queen, which happens during a flight involving thousands of winged females and males; after fertilization, males are not allowed to enter the anthill and generally they die quickly.

Development

The ants develop by complete metamorphoses, passing though a larvae state equivalent to the caterpillar of other insects, and the pupa state. The larvae do not have legs and are fed by the workers in a process called trophallaxis, in which the worker regurgitates foods that are swallowed and are already partially digested. The adults also distribute sustenance among themselves by this process. The larvae and pupa need a constant temperature to be developed and, therefore, are transferred to different locations, in accordance to their stage of development. The differentiation in castes is determined by the type of food that they receive in the different states of the larvae and the morphologic changes that characterize each caste appear abruptly.

Biological aspects of Carpenter ants

The ants can present colonies that are monogenic and polygenic.

The colonies can present thousands of workers. The reproduction occurs in the nuptial flight. Satellite colonies are common in all species where they present larvae of more advanced stages, pupae and, sometimes reproductive winged individuals.

Biological cycle:

Egg – larva – pupa – adult.
The colonies include 1 to 2 queens, many eggs, larvae and pupas. The anthill has three classes of adults: males, workers and queens.

Number of eggs per female: Could reach tens of thousands per colony. If they manage to work freely, they can build an anthill with around 300, 000.

Average life cycle of egg – adult: from 6 to 8 weeks after Oviparity (posture of eggs).

Period of incubation: The eggs grow inside the abdomen of the females for weeks or even months.

Preferred temperature: 25 ° C.

Longevity of adult females: average of 40 to 120 days. Males die after mating, the workers can live about 7 years and the queens can exceed 15 years. The anthill may be in use for 40 or more years.

The Life Cycle of a Colony

After the sprouting of the colony, the workers engage more and more in the search of food for the larvae and queen, so that the queen produces more eggs and thus produces more workers who will fed more larvae. This phase can last from one to several years. When the colony reaches its mature stage with a sufficient number of workers (variable according to the specie), the queen starts to lay eggs which emerge to become winged males and females. Then the adult genders depart for the nuptial flight out of the colony and again start the reproductive cycle. The cycles are repeated several times.

The mating game

When an ant is a few years old, the queen lays batches of eggs that develop into hundred of males and young queens. The males and the queens are bigger than the workers and they have wings.

The winged ants stay hidden in the nest, being fed by the workers until the big day arrives for their wedding flight. The weather has to be just right: usually a hot, damp, windless summer day.

When the worker ants are sure everything is perfect, they pour out of the nest, often attacking any small animals they run into.

Then they allow the winged ants to emerge. They mill around near nest entrances for while, then take off.
Since all the winged ants in the area take off on the same day, and even at the same time, the air is soon swarming with them.

Vast numbers are eaten by birds, but some manage to pair up on the ground and mate. The males die, after their job is done. But for the queen her task has just begun. She scuttles away; and since she has no more use for her wings, she breaks them off.

Then she slips into a crevice to hide while her eggs mature, and she prepares to start a new colony.

The queen’s brood

A young queen ant may stay hidden for months after mating. She may not even eat, but survives by recycling her powerful flight muscles.

Eventually she lays a few eggs in her refuge. When they hatch, she feeds the legless grubs with saliva enriched with reused muscle. These first grubs become tiny workers called nanitics. Which start gathering food and building the nest. From then on, the queen is just an egg-laying machine.

When her next batch of eggs hatches, the grubs are better fed by the food – gathering nanitics, so they grow into full – sized workers. They are dedicated to ensuring the survival of as many new adults as possible, so the whole colony is basically an ant – making factory.

As the colony grows, so does the nest. The workers build special chambers for incubating eggs. As the grubs hatch, the workers take them to sun- warmed nurseries near the top of the nest, helping them grow quickly. This is part of an ant’s life when it does all is grow because its maggotlike body is soft and stretchy. Within a week or so it stops feeding and becomes a pupa. During this phase its body is rebuilt into an adult ant. The adult emerges after another week to join the growing workforce.

Carpenter ant nest with the larvae and pupa

Most ant eggs develop into workers but some go on to become males and queen ants.

A male carpenter ant dies after mating with a queen.

A queen carpenter ant sheds her wings after mating.( She will simply rip them off)

Egg Machine

Each worker ant lives for only a few weeks, but a queen can live for 20 years or more. For most of that time she does nothing but lay eggs at a colossal rate.