Stages of Ant Development

How ants reproduce is interesting not only for ordinary people, but also for scientists. A large colony of insects delights and terrifies. In the wild, insects build anthills, in trees, houses - nests. Ant development goes through a complete transformation cycle. The whole process takes about a month.

Insect family

IN ant hierarchy the role of each individual is strictly regulated. From birth, it becomes known who will do anything.

• At the head of the hierarchy is the queen, uterus. A once fertilized female that reproduces eggs all her life. Her body size is larger than the rest of society.
• The largest clan is the working ants. One half is engaged in the search, replenishment, construction anthilland the other by rearing offspring, inside the cells.
• Another part of the ant family is young females, males. Each young female, after fertilization, leaves the family, looks for a suitable place, gives life to a new generation. Males, having fulfilled their main function, die within a week.

A photo of a large family is located below.

Life cycle each individual is slightly different starting from the moment of birth. According to scientists, the female lives about 25 years. The ants that are engaged in obtaining food, about 5 years. Workers who raise offspring within the anthill - 3 years.

On a note!

The least fortunate were the full-fledged males, their life cycle is only a month. Destined to be born in order to fertilize a female once.

Breeding process

The time for courtship games comes with the arrival of heat. Young males, females have wings growing. Pairing flying ants going on the fly. The breeding stage lasts approximately 14 days. After which all young males die, the female leaves the previous family.

Finds a suitable place, lays eggs. Offspring should hatch from them within 2 weeks, mainly working individuals. Larvae feed themselves.

Young insects begin the construction of the anthill, provide the uterus with food. Before that, she did not eat anything, vitality was supported by internal secretions.

Interesting!

The uterus drops wings, begins fruitful activity. The entire warm period reproduces offspring. The semen that came into her body once is enough to breed all her life. A portion of sperm will be constantly released to fertilize the eggs. The reproduction of ants is fast, thanks to this feature. Ants mate only 1 time in a life.

Eggs get fertilized while passing through the genital tract. From fertilized females are obtained, from unfertilized eggs males emerge. Their further differentiation into working individuals and prolific males occurs during development at the larval phase. Depends on power supplycare.

Development

Developmental stages ant have a full cycle - egg, larva, pupa, adult. When ants lay their eggs, it depends on weather conditions. This usually happens with the onset of persistent heat - in May. Possible second mating season in June.

• The queen is able to lay eggs of ants up to several hundred. For them special cameras are assigned.It also contains larvae. Working individuals help maintain optimal conditions in the anthill.
• After about a week, the larvae of ants hatch from the eggs. Adult individuals help to come into the world by gnawing the shell. After hatching, the larvae are in the form of white worms and are extremely voracious. A large amount of plant, animal food is eaten. Together with plants, seeds, working ants carry larvae to aphids, carrion, and worms.
• The rapid development of the larvae lasts about 2 weeks. After which the worm ceases to eat, turns into a chrysalis. Some varieties of larvae weave a cocoon. A few days later, the ant emerges from the pupa in the form of a full-fledged insect, but white. Under the influence of light, the cover hardens, darkens, and the ants of the usual black, red color appear.

The entire development cycle from an egg to an adult lasts about a month. Adverse climatic conditions can slow down the process. Insects breed rapidly, have a clear hierarchy, live in huge colonies, interesting wintercollect food together. At the head of this whole complex process is a prolific female.