Everyone knows the ant. We imagine him as a tiny hard worker, spending his life exclusively in earthly troubles. And what is our surprise when one day we find in the sky large winged insects that rise with a light cloud above the anthill. Who are these winged ants? Today we will get to know them better.
Who the ant family consists of
The most common in the world are black ants. They can be found in the forest, in the garden, and even in city apartments. The structure of their families looks the same as in other species of these insects. It includes the most important object of concern and anxiety of the ant community - the so-called "brood", adult individuals with sexual characteristics, and workers (females, deprived of the opportunity to breed).
The number of individuals living in one family can reach 20,000. Working ants are also divided into large families in castes: soldiers, nannies, builders, etc. A special place in the anthill is occupied by mature males and females, who are also called ant queens. It is they - these are the very black ants with wings that circle above us in mating flight.
What happens after the flight
Soon after the mating occurs, the young female drops her wings (she either bites them off, or they break off along the previously planned line) and tries to create a new family. She has to rely only on herself, as her male soon dies, and these insects do not take helpers with them.
So, the female ant with wings says goodbye and finds shelter somewhere under the stone. Here, from the eggs laid by her, a new anthill will take its beginning.
Black ants love dry sandy soil, but they can also choose human housing for the nest. The first to appear, the working individuals will immediately begin the construction of a small mound-anthill over the brood nest.
How the "anthill" grows
Ants, barely hatched from a cocoon, feed the mother of the family, look after eggs and larvae. They, already growing up, in a couple of weeks become food earners, soldiers and builders. Incidentally, it depends on how the larva was fed, who subsequently was born: ants with wings (future founders of families) or working individuals.
Such an “post” of an insect is also interesting: a heat carrier. Yes, as it warms up in the sun, this individual returns home! There she gives off heat, paying special attention to rooms with offspring.
What annoys black ants with wings and without them
In addition to the fact that the black ants occupying your country house can hardly be considered pleasant neighbors, gardeners are well aware that this is perhaps one of the most undesirable insects on the site.
It is they who breed herds of aphids, from which sweet milk is "milked". In every possible way protecting their nurse and transferring them from already eaten shoots to fresh, young, ants contribute to the propagation of parasites and the death of fruit trees, which they love especially strongly.
But if large red ants-females are relocated from the forest (these should be ants with wings, ready to be separated from the family), then they will displace black counterparts from the garden plot. And these insects are already useful in the garden, so let them live and multiply.