Life cycle and reproduction Meat ant

meat ant alates swarming nuptial flight

nuptial flight occurs during spring, in october. reproductive females mate single male , begin establishing own colonies afterwards. nuptial flight occurs after rain, males emerge nest first, followed virgin queens; groups of 20 40 females emerge after males have flown away. alates (the reproductive males , females) position on top of nest in order heat themselves, , fly @ same time once warm. process may happen multiple times unless weather had changed, otherwise, queens return nest. nuptial flight may continue days until virgin queens have withdrawn nest. of time, single queen start own colony , lay eggs take around 44 61 days develop , emerge adults, colonies can founded through multiple queens cooperating each other, adoption existing colony, or budding (also called satelliting or fractionating ), subset of colony including queens, workers , brood (eggs, larvae , pupae) leave main colony alternative nest site. around 10% of queens have @ least queen them during colony foundation. many queens killed during colony founding; major aspects include predation birds , other ants, of same species, due fact attempt establish nests near large colonies. however, queens successful, assistance of neighbouring workers, queen dig chambers. other causes of queen deaths include disease , starvation. queen s ovaries may take 4 weeks mature, , lays around 20 eggs may develop larvae in less month. workers have been observed laying eggs, presumably trophic eggs. function of these unfertilised eggs nutritional, not reproduction.

the number of individuals in colony varies. mature nest of several years old can hold between 11,000 , 64,000 ants, while other colonies can house around 300,000. in cases, enormous colonies can have many million ants. observed colonies known contain 70,000 larvae , 64,000 workers; can have 20,000 males , on 1,000 virgin queens, others may have more virgin queens males. ratio of worker ants number of larvae in colonies ranges 1 worker every 2 larvae or 2 larvae every worker. population of nest can affected or altered several factors: human interference can severely damage or destroy nests potentially devastates nest population, , overshadowing main cause of nest s demise. that, neighbouring nests may increase in population if damaged or abandoned sites taken over. meat ants rely on nests withstand climatic stress in summer , winter, foraging activity , food sources limited in summer, , in winter plant growth impossible , workers unable survive cold temperatures. result, meat ants overwinter, process organisms wait out winter season due cold conditions making everyday activity , survivability impossible; populations may affected greatly.

a queen meat ant burrowing hole after nuptial flight

most colonies monogyne, meaning colony has single queen, based on observations, nests contain more single queen. nests known contain 2 queens, having many 4 in single colony, making them polygynous; high proportion of queens living in polygynous nests unrelated 1 another. colonies oligogynous, means multiple queens present in colony, tolerated workers birthed different queens , treated equally. tolerance still occurs when new reproductive females , males born, recognition based on kin queens , workers known, hinting brood discrimination when larvae fed or groomed; queens take care of own brood , neglect after broods laid other queens. queens, on other hand, cooperate each other during nest founding, antagonistic once there workers present in colony. queens become more intolerant of each other colony grows, , separate within nest, resulting in queen laying more eggs. such cases happen when pleometrotic founding occurs, or if queen ant adopted colony, setting aggressive relationships. physical fights between queens in same colony rare.

as meat ant colonies have second queen, polydomy not associated polygyny, although 2 associated each other because polygynous colonies reproduce budding. means ecological factors promote polydomy , polygny both differ. studies show meat ants produced single, inseminated queen due high level of relatedness in 1 tested colonies. colonies not closely related result of colony fusion (meaning 2 unrelated , separate colonies form single entity). meat ants show nest fidelity: in polydomous colonies, workers different nests mingle others different nests never return nest not originate from. instead, return nest enclosed in. means colonies may homogenise through brood transfer. discussed before, nestmates different nests aggressive towards each other, due number of factors: genetic , spatial distance in nests can correlate level of aggression exhibited ants. however, exhibit more aggression ants of different species adjoining territories. aggressive conspecific ants distant colonies, suggesting environmental cues play vital role in nestmate recognition. example background odours in particular environment may impair ants identifying own nestmates, , may need make more attempts determine ant s identity.