Nest of Mud dauber
An ant colony is an underground lair where ants live. Colonies consist of a series of underground chambers, connected to each other and the surface of the earth by small tunnels. There are rooms for nurseries, food storage, and mating. The colony is built and maintained by legions of worker ants, who carry tiny bits of dirt in their mandibles and deposit them near the exit of the colony, forming an ant-hill. Ant colonies are eusocial, and are very much like those found in other social Hymenoptera, though the various groups of these developed sociality independently through convergent evolution. Eggs are laid by one or sometimes more queens. Queens are different in structure, they are the largest ones among all ants, especially their abdomen and thorax which are larger than most ants'. Their tasks are to lay eggs and produce more offspring. Most of the eggs that are laid by the queens grow up to become wingless, sterile females called "workers". Periodically, swarms of new winged queens and males (the alates) are produced in most species, which leave to mate. The males die shortly thereafter, while the surviving queens either found new colonies or occasionally return to their old one. The surviving queens can live up to around 15 years.
Size: 5541px × 3620px
Photo credit: © Bhalchandra Mohite / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: ant, ants, arthropod, built, colonies, colony, conifer, dauber, ecology, environment, excavation, forest, grass, grassland, harvester, hump, insect, insects, mud, nature, nest
