About 100 million years ago, ants and wasps were one species which explains why the Founding Queens and Prince Consorts of Ants are almost as big as wasps and have wings at the beginning of their career. However, something happened that forced some wasp colonies to become more social than others, which meant that most citizens had to give up their individuality for the colony's benefit. For example, every worker ant is a female and can potentially lay eggs. But the colony prevents them from laying their eggs and forces them to support the Queen and her descendants.
The specialty of an individual Ant depends on the level of care and nourishment the parents and the larva receive. If the food were scarce - all the larvae would grow into workers to get more food. If the food is abundant, some of the larvae will turn into "princess Ant."
Ants' societies very much resemble those of mythological Amazonian ones. The head of the state is a Queen. The colony only comprises females. Males from foreign settlements are used once for mating, and then they either naturally die or get killed and eaten by female warriors or workers.
Ant queen resembles the British Queen, who reigns but does not rule. There is no supreme commander in an Ant colony. Worker ants decide all the questions by proposing ideas and voting for them by the majority. Scout ants research the environment. After they find what they consider worthy, they mark it with pheromones and return to the colony's nets. There they share their impressions of the finding. They produce more or less intensive pheromones depending on their satisfaction with the foundation. If the level of pheromones is attractive to the other ants, they join the scouts and visit the found item too. They form their impression and repeat the cycle. When the majority agrees that what was found is worth their attention, the colony arrives at a consensus about what to do with the foundation.
Even though every ant is born from an egg, its specialty is reflected by its physical appearance, similar to but more distinctive than the uniforms of humans.
| Item | Name | Example Image | General Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egg |  [^1] |
An organic vessel for protecting and incubating a fetus. The egg almost does not interact with the external environment. Its surface is sticky, which allows the carrying of multiple eggs by a worked ant at times of danger. |
| 2 | Larva |  |
A juvenile form of Ant during its metamorphosis from an egg to an adult. Unlike the egg, the larva consumes food brought by the workers to fuel growth and transformation. The larvae have no legs but are capable of minor movements, such as bending their head toward a food source when fed. The larva produces liquid pheromones that workers eat and dry junk that workers throw away. |
| 3 | Pupae |  |
Some ant species' larvae are cocoon-spinning. They wrap themselves in thin silk threads before becoming pupae. In other species, cocoons are not used during pupae. They are out in the open, and their development can easily be observed. The pupae start white, as the larvae, but darken over time. All pupae are positioned in a fetal position with lowered heads and bodies shaped much like a banana. |
| 4 | Worker |  |
It will wake up when the pupae are fully grown and have begun to darken. For the first days of its life, it will be lightly colored and transparent in comparison to the other members of the ant colony. But after a few days, it will darken and gain the same markings as its sisters. Most ant species let the new ants (also called nanitics) live their first time in safety, tending to the colony's eggs, queen, and other inside duties. Then eventually, they will look towards more dangerous tasks such as foraging or defending the nest. The closer one ant is to death (by age), the more economically motivated the colony is to risk its life. |
| 5 | Soldier |  |
Soldiers are larger than workers and have larger mandibles. Older soldiers possess larger heads than their younger sisters. Large heads are required to hold bigger and stronger muscles. Their main role is defensive and offensive. When required, they help to carry loads of prey to the colony bivouac. |
| 6 | Prince consort |  |
A male alate (winged) version of an ant. In the same for the other colonies' moment, usually, on a hot day after rain, it takes part in a "nuptial flight" when alate females mate with alate males from foreign colonies. After a female is far enough from her original colony, she produces pheromones to attract the males. But she does not mate with the first or nearest ones. She flies away from them as fast as possible to only mate with the fastest. After mating, the male dies not to be a burden for a colony. For some ant species, the male's inner genitals explode into the female's spermatheca and quickly die. Some species' Queens from existing colonies can produce pheromones that attract foreign males. As the attracted males land near the nest, they are attacked by the nest's guards, and their wings get cut off and eaten. They are driven to the nest by the workers. Males produce pheromones communicating the purpose of intrusion. If the worker ants like the pheromones, they bring the bewinged male to the queen for mating. Otherwise, they kill and feed him to their larva. |
| 7 | Queen |  |
If fed well, a larva can develop into a winged princess ant destined to leave the colony and hopefully find her own. After their virgin "nuptial flight" fertilized by a foreign male, a princess ant becomes a founding queen. She finds the right place for a new colony, usually far enough from the original colony for the original family to never find the offspring. She digs a hole and lays her first eggs. She feeds and takes care of the first larva all by herself. She even sacrifices her wings to feed them. But once they grow up, they become her first team and army. The young queens have an extremely high failure rate. A very large ant colony can send millions of virgin queens during its lifetime. Assuming that the total number of ant colonies in the area remains constant, on average, only one of these queens succeeds. 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. Successful queens live up to 20-30 years. After the Queen dies, the colony disintegrates. However, some ant species' princesses do not to start their colony but return home and help build a super colony. Such communities don't rely on the health of one Queen so much. |