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A queen ant (formally known as a gyne) is an adult, reproducing female ant in an ant colony; she is usually the mother of all the other ants in that colony. Some female ants, such as the Cataglyphis , do not need to mate to produce offspring, reproducing through asexual parthenogenesis or cloning , and all of those offspring will be female. [ 1 ]
The pavement ant is dark brown to blackish, and 2.5–4 millimeters (0.10–0.16 in) long. A colony is composed of workers, alates, and a queen. Workers do have a small stinger, which can cause mild discomfort in humans but is essentially harmless. Alates, or new queen ants and drones, have wings, and are at least twice as large as the workers ...
In ants, social conflicts, sex conflicts, or caste conflicts can exist. These conflicts occur within the same colony or supercolony at various levels: on an individual scale, between two or more specific ants; on the scale of sex, between males and females; or on the scale of different castes, between queens and workers.
In Hampton Roads, the invasive fire ants have caused issues for local wildlife, and the species looks to spread as climate conditions become more favorable in the western parts of the state. Fire ...
Workers can range from 3.5 to 7.5 mm (0.14 to 0.30 in) in length. [1] The queen ant's size can range from 4 to 10 millimetres (0.16 to 0.39 in). [2] This species can be distinguished from other subgenus by little amounts of erect hairs on the gena, limited erect hairs on the clypeal disc and finally by the color which is a concolorous dark brown-black.
Having a queen is what makes a "queenright" hive, nest, or colony of eusocial insects. [1] [2] A colony with multiple queens is said to be a polygyne form, whereas one with only one is a monogyne form. The ancient Greek origin of gyne meant a woman who had given birth to at least one child. [3]
The queen is the reproductive member of the colony. Some ant species will only have one queen, while others will form polygynous colonies of multiple queens, such as Argentine ants Linepithema humile. [2] The workers are responsible for supporting the queen, maintenance, and foraging. Unlike queens and drones, workers are born wingless.
Not all ants follow the basic pattern described above. In army ants only males are alates, having wings. They fly out from their parent colony in search of other colonies where wingless virgin queens wait for them. A colony with an old queen and one or more mated young queens then divides, each successful queen taking a share of the workers.