An ant colony is a population of ants, typically from a single species, capable of maintaining their complete lifecycle. Ant colonies are eusocial, communal, and efficiently organized and are very much like those found in other social Hymenoptera, though the various groups of these developed sociality independently through convergent evolution.[1] The typical colony consists of one or more egg-laying queens, numerous sterile females (workers, soldiers) and, seasonally, many winged sexual males and females.[2] In order to establish new colonies, ants undertake flights that occur at species-characteristic times of the day.[3] Swarms of the winged sexuals (known as alates) depart the nest in search of other nests.[4] The males die shortly thereafter, along with most of the females.[5] A small percentage of the females survive to initiate new nests.[6]
- ^ Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences (1999). "Convergent evolution, superefficient teams and tempo in Old and New World army ants". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences. 266 (1429). Royal Society Publishing: 1697–1701. doi:10.1098/rspb.1999.0834. PMC 1690180.
- ^ "Ant Colony – ASU – Ask A Biologist". askabiologist.asu.edu. 16 April 2010.
- ^ "Seasonal and nocturnal periodicities in ant nuptial flights in the Tropics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". ResearchGate. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
- ^ Wilson, E. O. (1957). "The Organization of a Nuptial Flight of the Ant Pheidole Sttarches Wheeler". Psyche: A Journal of Entomology. 64 (2): 46–50. doi:10.1155/1957/68319. ISSN 0033-2615.
- ^ Loiácono, Marta; Margaría, Cecilia. "Hymenoptera (Sawflies, Ants, Bees, and Wasps)". Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. 3 (2): 405–425. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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