How Do Ants Reproduce?

Abundant Insects

Ants are one of the most abundant insects on our planet and the reasons are their eusocial, complex societal behaviors and their ability to survive in many and various ecosystems. Like most other animal societies, reproduction is one of the core reasons why ants are so prevalent. Ants are one of the most abundant insects on our planet and the reasons are their eusocial, complex societal behaviors and their ability to survive in many and various ecosystems. Like most other animal societies, reproduction is one of the core reasons why ants are so prevalent. Ants are one of the most abundant insects on our planet and the reasons are their eusocial, complex societal behaviors and their ability to survive in many and various ecosystems. Like most other animal societies, reproduction is one of the core reasons why ants are so prevalent.

Reproduction for ants is a complex phenomenon that involves finding, selecting and successfully fertilizing females to ensure that the eggs laid are able to survive and molt through the successive stages of the ant’s life cycle – larvae, pupae and adults.

Ant Life Cycle

A brief description of the respective stages within the ant’s life cycle may be helpful when describing how ants reproduce. The eggs are small and cream colored and tended to by the workers.

Ant larvae have no legs and are grub-like in appearance. Pupae are somewhat the same in appearance as adult worker ants and are initially cream colored, but become darker before becoming adult ants.

The adult stages are the older ants we typically see foraging for food or protecting the colony from intruders, while the nurse ant adults are younger workers that attend to the needs of the queen and the eggs, larvae and pupae. The colony queen ants are almost always bigger than other members of their colony.

Ant Swarms

Each ant colony begins with, and centers upon, the queen, whose sole purpose is to reproduce. This reproductive behavior begins with winged males and virgin winged queens leaving the existing nest and swarming to search for a mate from another colony.

The males and females within the swarm are called alates and their wings allow them to disperse away from the “mother” colony, so the likelihood is greater that no inbreeding with their relatives occurs.