this topic epic fail
ant
A mature ant colony seasonally produces winged virgin queens and
males. Unfertilized eggs will develop into males. Fertilized eggs
usually develop into wingless, sterile workers, but may develop
into virgin queens if the larvae
receive special attention.
Young queens and males stay in their parent colony until
conditions are right for the nuptial flight. The flight requires
clear weather since rain is disruptive for flying insects. Different colonies of the same species
often use environmental cues to synchronize the release of males
and queens so that they can mate with individuals from other nests,
thus avoiding inbreeding. The actual "take off" from the parent
colony is also often synchronized so that predators cannot eat the ants one by one.
Typically the virgin queens and males first scatter to ensure
outbreeding. The queens then release pheromones to attract males. However, the queens
often try to escape the males, allowing only the fastest and the
fittest males to mate. Mating takes place during flight.
One queen will usually mate with several males. The sperm is stored in a special organ 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.
The males usually die very soon after mating. The young mated
queens land and, in the case of ants, remove their wings. They then
attempt to find a new colony. The details of this vary from species
to species, but typically involve the excavation of the colony's
first chamber and the subsequent laying of eggs. From this point the queen continuously lays
eggs which hatch into larvae, exclusively destined to develop into
worker ants [2]. The queen
usually nurses the first brood alone. After the first workers
appear, the queen becomes strictly an egg-laying machine. For an
example of a colony founding process, see Atta sexdens.
The young queens have an extremely high failure rate. During its
lifetime a very large ant colony can send out millions of virgin
queens. Assuming that the total number of ant colonies in the area
remains constant, on average only one of these queens will succeed.
The rest are destroyed by predators (most notably other ants), environmental
hazards or failures in raising the first brood at various stages of
the process. This strict selection ensures that the queen has to be
both extremely fit and extremely lucky to pass on her genes to the next generation.
TY CHER
