MySheen

How do ants mate and reproduce?

Published: 2024-11-06 Author: mysheen
Last Updated: 2024/11/06, Ants and Hu Feng are close relatives, which first appeared in the Cretaceous, and can be said to be a species of the same age as dinosaurs. Up to now, ants have spread all over the world, and there are many kinds of ants. As far as China is concerned, more than 600 species of ants have been identified.

Ants and Hu Feng are close relatives, which first appeared in the Cretaceous, and can be said to be a species of the same age as dinosaurs. Up to now, ants have spread all over the world, and there are many kinds of ants. As far as China is concerned, more than 600 species of ants have been identified. So how do ants mate and reproduce?

First, how do ants mate and reproduce

Ants reproduce through the mating of males and females, and the process of reproduction is generally divided into three parts: mating, spawning and marriage. Get acquainted with each other through marriage flight, and copulate during or after flight after meeting. Males usually die soon after mating, while females take off their wings and choose suitable soil and places to build nests in the ground to breed new ant families.

Ants have a strong social nature, and their groups are generally divided into queens, breeding ants, workers and ants, and the division of labor of each kind of ant is very clear. for example, the main duties of workers are to build and expand nests, collect food, feed larvae and queens, and so on; soldiers become fighting weapons when defending ant colonies, and also serve as tools for storing food in ant colonies.

Second, the special habits of ants

Ants live for a long time, and the queen can live as long as fifteen years. Its strong sociality may lead to some interesting habits, such as grazing and slave keeping. Grazing means that ants will "graze" aphids to get honey. Aphids suck plant sap and excrete sticky, transparent sweet liquid, which ants collect and store. At ordinary times, ants will guard these aphids from ladybugs or other predators, and from time to time use their antennae to stimulate the aphids' abdomen, let them continue to secrete "honeydew", and transport aphids to other branches when the aphids gather too much. It's like a herdsman keeping a cow.

Some ants also keep slaves, and hemoglobin ants sneak into the nests of peace-loving black ants in the summer, kill the latter's queen and move the pupae back to their nests, as the pupae hatch in the new nest. they dutifully collect food and defend the entire population as if it were their own home.

The above is some related knowledge about ants, curious friends of ants can also read some related knowledge for further understanding.

 
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