Ants – structure, development cycle and other information

There is a lot of truth in the saying that someone ‘is as hardworking as an ant’ – these surprisingly small creatures play a huge role in many ecosystems with their daily work. So why not take a little closer look at them? Whether you are passionate about ant breeding or simply want to learn a little more about ants, below we will try to dispel your doubts about their structure, development cycle and systematics. Be sure to read on!

Is an ant an insect?

Is the ant an insect? For many ant fanciers, ant breeding may prove to be a unique pet, but before you decide to have such a unique breeding in your own four corners, it is worthwhile for you to learn more about ant taxonomy. This will make it easier for you to understand some of its behaviours and will make keeping a formicarium even more rewarding. But let’s return to the fundamental question – is an ant an insect?

The ants (Formicidae), and it is to this family that the ant belongs (in fact, according to estimates, up to 20 000 species, inhabiting the whole world), are insects belonging to the order Hymenoptera.

A characteristic feature of ants is the building of communities, quite complex, in addition to being caste-based. This is because, in the often enormous nests, each ant has an assigned function which it performs throughout its insect life. We don’t need to add to this that it is an extremely busy life, do we? For more information on the division of roles among ants, see the following paragraphs of this material.

What do ants look like?

What does an ant look like? If you look at it from your vantage point, all you can see is a tiny creature quickly traversing the world and walking ahead for a familiar purpose. A black dot with several pairs of legs and usually a slightly more prominent, larger head. Meanwhile, this insect, despite its undeniably small size, can prove to be a delight – and a well-kept formicarium in your home will make it easier for you to learn about its structure down to the smallest detail.

What does an ant look like up close? What does the ‘face’ of an ant look like? If viewed under high magnification, for example under a microscope, an ant up close can appear quite… scary! With its robust carapace, bulging eyes and maxillae that can shred food at lightning speed, it could certainly inspire a particularly original Halloween costume! However, for the most part, there is nothing to be frightened of – in fact, very few species of ants pose a serious threat to humans, which, if anything, is usually associated with triggering an allergic reaction after a bite.

If you look closely at an ant, you can see all sorts of protrusions, holes (through which it takes in oxygen and expels carbon dioxide – it has no lungs and ‘breathes’ this way) or tiny hairs on its body. These are difficult to see with the unaided eye, but a good quality magnifying glass should help.

Ant construction – what should you know?

The structure of an ant may, on the surface, seem uncomplicated – but it is an insect that is really worth taking a closer look at. Why? Because it is fascinating that such a small organism can be so complex – as we will try to prove in the following sentences!

The body of an ant is divided into three main segments, namely the head, thorax and abdomen. If you have the opportunity to observe insects up close, you will quickly learn to distinguish between these components. In addition, depending on the species, the segments of the ant’s body can be distinguished by characteristic features, such as colour.

The most essential part of the body, from the point of view of every ant of course, is the head. An important part of it are the already mentioned maxillae, which are evolutionarily transformed legs growing out of the insect’s mouth apparatus. These jaws are used by the ant to grasp food and grind it. If necessary, the ant can also try to scare off possible attackers using them, in which case it adopts a slightly elevated position and presents its large, menacing-looking mandibles to its opponent.

On the head there are also important sensory organs of the ant. First and foremost we are talking about the eyes, which in these insects are quite complex, somewhat convex and arranged in a structure that looks like a honeycomb. In addition to the eyes and the maxillae, the sensory organs are the feelers. These are extremely important parts of the body, as they allow the ant to sense taste as well as touch. A lot for one small head, isn’t it? Will it find some more room? To put it bluntly – does an ant have a brain? It does! And quite a large one at that, consisting of as many as 250,000 nerve cells.

Ant legs and abdomen

How many legs does an ant have? This insect belongs to the six-legged subphylum , so it moves on six legs. Interestingly, there are usually hooks on the first pair of legs, which enable the ant to effectively maintain the hygiene of its mouth apparatus and feelers!

The abdomen is connected movably to the thorax, allowing the ant to move very efficiently and quickly. Some species can also have a stinger on their abdomen, but these are very rare (the fire ant, for example). On the other hand, absolutely all ants can bite (the mandibles are used for this) and are equipped with a venom gland. It is in this gland that formic acid, i.e. the venom itself, is formed.

And although all ants are distinguished by their segmented body structure, you need to know that there are some differences depending on whether you are dealing with the queen alone or with females and males.

The male ant has a slightly longer, slender body, compared to that of the female (worker), which is due, among other things, to the fact that males do not work as hard. Also, their feelers are less developed.

The queen, or mother ant, is an insect whose body stands out clearly from the other inhabitants of the colony. Her body is exceptionally large and her thorax is wide enough to accommodate her eggs. In other words – the queen’s physique ensures that she has sufficient power over the other ants.

And how much does an ant weigh? The typical one is really light and weighs about 3 milligrams, and the queen herself will, depending on the species, always be slightly heavier.

How do ants reproduce?

The queen ant is responsible for the reproduction of ants – who may contact multiple males during her mating flight, collecting a supply of sperm during copulation for her (and the colony’s) entire future life. From the eggs thus fertilised, offspring are hatched – diverse when it comes to genetics (thanks to the use of semen from different fathers).

However, it is most common for a queen to meet only one male, in which case all the eggs will be clones of the mother, so to speak, having identical DNA to her.

The developmental cycle of ants – a fascinating process from egg to adult

Although the way ants reproduce may seem incredibly simple, the ant’s developmental cycle is already incredibly complex.

As you already know, after her mating flight, the queen makes her way to the nest (she can be carried to the nest by worker bees or she can start her own by hollowing out a tunnel in a place of her choice). Within a month or so, from the first eggs laid, worker ants hatch, who are responsible for expanding the nest and providing food for the queen to lay more eggs – importantly, throughout her life, the queen uses the sperm acquired during her first and only copulation. This is spectacular, as an ant queen can live for up to a dozen years or more, still laying the eggs fertilised the first time….

Ant egg

The life cycle of an ant begins with an egg. What do these ant eggs look like? They are really tiny and, at first glance, can be associated with grains of salt (they have a whitish colour to them, which adds to this impression). The fertilised eggs will allow the worker bees to hatch. Those that have not been fertilised harbour male ants.

The incubation time for a deposited ant egg ranges from a few to several days, with most known species taking about a week. After this time, the ant larva, not much larger than the egg, hatches from the egg .

Ant larva

The larva, just after hatching from the ant’s egg, remains entirely dependent on the worker ants caring for it. It does not yet have developed legs or eyesight, so it cannot move on its own and can only take food from other ants. The feeding itself by worker ants is quite spectacular – as the brood does not have a mouthparts like those of adult ants, the food is placed by the worker ants on the thorax of the larvae, where special enzymes digest it and facilitate absorption of the ingredients ‘transdermally’. Sometimes the broods are also carried by the worker bees to the food source and laid, for example, on carrion.

It is important to distinguish between several stages in the development of the larva, during which the maggot “sheds” its cuticle several times, along with the growth of the body (such shedding is referred to, as in reptiles, as moulting).

Ant pupa

At the last stage of development, when the larva becomes more than twice as large as when it hatches (this takes about two weeks) and turns greyish in colour, it begins to develop into a pupa. Some species, with the help of a special gland, spin a cocoon around itself, which will protect the body during the development of the legs or eyes.

Importantly, during the pupation process, the future ant does not take food. It uses the nutrients it managed to absorb during the larval stage, when it was fed by the worker ants. The ant pupa itself , hiding in a cocoon, resembles a grain of rice – the cocoon is whitish, sometimes milky beige in colour, with a dark dot on top and a rounded, slightly elongated shape.

Adult ant

After biting through the cocoon, the mature form of the ant emerges from it , but in white. This is the so-called imago, an insect whose carapace has yet to harden. Access to natural sunlight and food means that within a few days the adult ant has already taken on a suitable dark colour, and its armour becomes hard and resistant to external influences. The entire development process, from egg laying to adult form, takes the ant about a month.

The ants living in the colony know their roles precisely and stick to them throughout their lives, which are, incidentally, caste-based. Thus, in the case of the queen, her main task is to ensure that her offspring are constantly being released into the world. She is thus treated exceptionally well by her workers– it is they who take care of her hygiene, provide her with food and then take care of the eggs and larvae, treating them almost as they would in a human nursery.

Some worker bees work only in the nest, while some forage outside the nest. Depending on the species or even the size of the nest, there is also a caste division among the workers. A distinction is then made between larger insects, which act as soldiers, medium-sized insects, responsible for cleaning and building the colony, and smaller insects, which are ‘nursery workers’.

New future queens may emerge among the hatching ants. They, on mating flights, will leave the colony to mate with the male and then establish their own nest. These ants, equipped with wings (discarded after the colony has opened), will therefore make their first and only mating flight after reaching maturity, and will then begin their entire, complex life cycle at the new site.

The least active and interesting life has, unfortunately, the male ant. His role is simple – he has to impregnate the queen, and having accomplished this important task, he dies.

How long do ants live?

In the material above, we have already mentioned, among other things, the life expectancy of an ant. As can easily be deduced, it depends on a number of factors – above all, on the role the ant plays in its community.

The shortest-lived male ants. Although they have the important role of fertilising the queen, they simply die after the whole process. Their lives therefore usually close within a month or two.

The ant queen lives the longest – under favourable conditions (for example, in a home formicarium), she can even live for more than 25 years! In the wild, this would still be an impressive result – as the queen can live between 15 and 20 years. All thanks to the fact that she is well protected and fed by her worker bees.

The lifespan of a worker ant varies from several months (when they work outside the nest), to about five years (when they take care of its expansion, feeding the queen or caring for the young). Of course, in a safe environment, when they are not exposed to predators, they can live much longer.

Ants are fascinating insects – in the wild they exemplify incredible chemistry and a strong survival instinct – not their own, but that of their queen. They are organised, hard-working and extremely useful (they clear the forest of pollutants, control parasites such as aphids or deal with carrion). Observing their fascinating life in a home formicarium can be an interesting study of nature – not only for the youngest. If you are thinking of keeping these fascinating insects – read our article on how to start keeping ants at home. If you are interested in specific ant species – find out how to breed Messor barbarus or how to start a Camponotus nicobariensis breeding.