After the nuptial flight..

jax · July 21, 2010

Worker ant dragging a dead (future) queen away from the nest entrance

In summer, different colonies of the same species of ants use environmental cues to synchronize the release of males and queens.. The main cue usually is a hot day preceded by cooler ones.

Yesterday we saw one of those days here in the Netherlands and billions of winged male and female ants took to the air in order to mate. The males die right after mating but the larger females, the queens, loose their wings (usually bite them off) and set off to start a new colony.

One queen will usually mate with several males. The sperm is stored in a special organ, known as a spermatheca, in the queen's abdomen and will last throughout her lifetime. This can be as long as 20 years, during which time the sperm can be used to fertilize tens of millions of eggs.

Most of these queens perish before they can start a new colony and only a few in a milion succeed.

Perished queen. Note the wounds on the thorax from where the wings were attached.(click for large)

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A worker tosses a dead winged male onto a pile of other dead males.