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All About Queen Ants

Ants are social creatures. They live in large cooperative groups called colonies. Each and every ant colony is divided into three casts: – queen, males and workers. Every cast performs its own particular task. Queens and males are the most important members of a colony as they are reproductive casts.

Without reproduction a colony can easily dwindle and then disappear. In other words, a queen ant can be defined as an adult reproducing female of a particular colony.

queen-ant

Fun Facts about Queen Ant: –

  • Species that have one queen in their nest are known as monogyne and species that have more than one queen in their nest are known as polygyne.
  • Queen ants have thicker bodies compared to other ants that makes it easily distinguishable.
  • Two or more generations can overlap in a colony.
  • In some species, the queen ant can live more than a decade.
  • If a queen ant produces a larger brood then it leaves her with less fighting power for her defence against worker ants.
  • Queen ants have a larger abdomen compared to other ants and they have wing muscles as well.
  • A queen will produce fewer workers if she is sharing the colony with other queens.
  • The queen ant has very little control over the colony as it has no known authority or decision making power.
  • In some ant species, queen ants can lay thousands of eggs in one single day.
  • Once mated, a queen can stay fertilized for many years and can lay millions of egg.
  • Fertilized eggs produce female worker ants and unfertilized eggs produce males. If these fertilized eggs and pupa are well nurtured then they could become queens as well.
  • Queen ants can fly during their adult life as they are born with wings.