Ant Life Cycle -An Overview, Stages

We all have seen the ants walking in a line on the floor and walls of our houses and we are wondering how they follow each other perfectly. There is an interesting fact that you have to that the ants can lift 20 times their weight. Ants are an important part of the animal kingdom and belong to the class Arthropoda. Ants are important topics in Biology and they carry a weightage of 2% in NEET and 3% in CBSE and other Paramedical Exams.

What is Ant?

The largest and oldest insect colony in the animal kingdom is ants. The ants are social insects that relate to the order Hymenoptera and belong to the class Arthropoda. There are more than 10,000 species of ant present in the animal kingdom.

A colony of ants may contain more than 20 million individual ants. The name prescribed by scientists for the ant is Formicidae. Some basic points about ants are discussed below:

Ants are divided into three groups: Adult Queens, Adult workers and Adult soldiers.

• Most species of ants are commonly found in tropical or rainy forests.

• The life cycles of ants completely depend upon the species and it can vary from weeks to months.

• The duration of life depends on environmental factors and also on the climate of the region.

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Process of Reproduction in Ants

There are various ways of reproduction noticed in various ant species. In some species of ants, the female queens are found to be capable of asexual reproduction with the help of thelytokous parthenogenesis. In many species of ants, the reproduction process is only done by the queen and some females.

In some ant species, their nests have some queens whereas in some other species, queens do not exist. Adult workers that are capable of reproduction are called gamergates and the colonies which did not have any queens are known as gamergate colonies. Some important events of reproduction in ants are discussed below:

• Ants use both types of reproduction that are sexual and asexual. In some queens thelytokous parthenogenesis also takes place.

• Reproduction is majorly performed by queens but in some cases, reproductive workers are also present.

• Drones mate with queens of other colonies using mating pheromones to avoid attacks by worker ants.

• Nuptial fights take place in late spring or early summer where winged males and females leave their colonies for mating.

• Queens store sperm after mating with new colonies once the eggs shed their wings.

• The first worker is responsible for expanding the nest and caring for the colony.

Life Cycle of Ant

Ant undergoes various physical changes during their whole life span. An ant goes through four stages of development that are – egg, larva, pupa and adult in their whole life cycle. These stages are described as follows:

Stage 1 – Egg stage

• Two types of eggs are laid by the queen. Fertilized eggs( males) and Unfertilized eggs( females).

• She lays 200 to 1000 eggs per day.

• Larger eggs are generally queens.

• Eggs are hatched within 1-2 weeks.

• Worker ants move to the egg-hatching chamber.

Stage 2 – Larvae stage

• After hatching, worms-like larvae emerge.

• The larva has no eyes or legs.

• Worker ants feed the larvae ants providing food from their stomach.

• The larvae completely depend upon worker ants for nourishment.

• The larvae are transformed into pupae.

Stage 3 – Pupa stage

• Larvae develop into pupae after several moults.

• During the pupa stage, the physical features of eyes, legs and wings start appearing.

• Pupae have well-developed legs and antennae. These are folded against the body during this stage.

Stage 4 – Adult stage

• The adult stage is the final stage of ant development and it takes 5-10 weeks from egg to adult development.

• The pupa shell and cocoon are removed. The well-developed ant comes out.

• Newly emerged ants are soft and light-coloured.

• Workers live up to 1-3 weeks while queen ants live up to 25-28 years.

Types of Questions Asked from Ants

During exam preparation, different types of questions about the Ants are asked. The table below contains the different patterns of questions asked in different exams.

Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Ants

It takes effort to remember everything in a single go. We made the entire problem easy. Some of the tricks regarding Ants are given below which you can use to memorise the important points.

Ant Life Cycle

"ELP: Egg, Larva, Pupa"

• E: Egg (queen lays fertilized and unfertilized eggs)

• L: Larva (worm-like stage, fed by worker ants)

• P: Pupa (transformation stage with developing features)

Ant Castes

"QWS: Queen, Workers, Soldiers"

• Q: Queen (reproductive female, lays eggs)

• W: Workers (non-reproductive females, who care for the colony)

• S: Soldiers (protect the colony and defend against threats)

Ant Communication

"PFC: Pheromones, Foraging, Cooperation"

• P: Pheromones (chemical signals for communication)

• F: Foraging behaviour (searching for food and resources)

• C: Cooperation (working together in colonies for survival)

Ant Adaptations

"SHE: Social Structure, Habitat, Efficiency"

• S: Social Structure (complex colony organization)

• H: Habitat Adaptation (living in various environments)

• E: Efficiency in resource use (foraging and teamwork)

Ecological Roles

"SPE: Soil Aeration, Pest Control, Ecosystem Dynamics"

• S: Soil Aeration (improving soil health)

• P: Pest Control (predators of pests)

• E: Ecosystem Dynamics (role in food webs and biodiversity)

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