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287:, having wings. They fly out from their parent colony in search of other colonies where wingless virgin queens wait for them. A colony with an old queen and one or more mated young queens then divides, each successful queen taking a share of the workers. The reason for this behavior is the fact that army ants do not have a physical nest. The queens are thus absolutely dependent on workers to protect them.
208:
point the queen continuously lays eggs which hatch into larvae, exclusively destined to develop into worker ants. The queen usually nurses the first brood alone. After the first workers appear, the queen's role in the colony typically becomes one of exclusive (and generally continuous) egg-laying. For an example of a colony founding process, see
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The young mated queens land and, in the case of most ants and all termites, remove their wings. They then attempt to found a new colony. The details of this vary from species to species, but typically involve the excavation of the colony's first chamber and the subsequent laying of eggs. From this
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This phenomenon occurs in many colonies simultaneously when local weather conditions are appropriate, to reduce the effectiveness of predation, and to ensure that the queens and males from different colonies stand a chance of meeting and interbreeding. It therefore has the appearance of being a
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The young queens have an extremely high failure rate. During its lifetime a very large ant colony can send out millions of virgin queens. 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
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In most species, the male ants fly alongside them, although they are smaller and less noticeable. The queens fly around – some covering very long distances, others only a few meters – then mate and drop to the ground, where they lose their wings and attempt to start a new
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based research has demonstrated that nuptials flights are not particularly spatially or temporally synchronised. However, the number of ants flying on certain days can be large enough to be detected by weather service radar systems, resembling rain showers.
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case, males are "quickly converted into single-purpose sexual missiles." Young queens and males stay in their parent colony until conditions are right for the nuptial flight. The flight requires clear weather since rain is disruptive for flying
230:(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
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296:. The males and virgin queens mate and the queens then often return to the parent colony, where they then remain. This process greatly increases the success rate of virgin queens and allows the creation of extremely large
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The males have evolved for the single purpose of inseminating the queen. During "the quick and violent mating," the male places his internal genitalia into the genital chamber of the queen and quickly dies.
341:'timed' event or that the ants somehow communicate. However neither of these is likely to be the case – it could be simply a common response to temperature, humidity and wind speed and time of year.
142:. Different colonies of the same species often use environmental cues to synchronize the release of males and queens so that they can mate with individuals from other nests, thus reducing
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177:, in the queen's abdomen, and lasts throughout her lifetime. This can be as long as 20 years, during which time the sperm can be used to fertilize tens of millions of eggs.
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to attract males. However, the queens often try to escape the males, allowing only the fastest and the fittest males to mate. Mating takes place during flight.
337:. The mass of flying insects often attracts the attention of predators such as birds, and it is common to see flocks gorging on the readily available food.
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44:
324:"Flying ant day" is an informal term for the day on which future queen ants emerge from the nest to begin their nuptial flight, although
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colonies to become entrenched in their surroundings, achieving a dominant position in the ecosystem. However, the price for this is
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519:"The spatial distribution and environmental triggers of ant mating flights: using citizen-science data to reveal national patterns"
300:. The colony also becomes essentially immortal as it is no longer dependent on the continued health of a single queen. This allows
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and the resulting loss of adaptability. This may result in sudden collapses in population when the environment changes or a new
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develop into males. Fertilized eggs usually develop into wingless, sterile workers, but may develop into virgin queens if the
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617:
Boomsma & Leusink, J. J. & A. (1981). "Weather
Conditions during Nuptial Flights of Four European Ant Species".
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After shedding its wings, a termite reproductive retains the stubs where they snapped off at the line of weakness.
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Hart, Adam G.; Hesselberg, Thomas G.; Nesbit, Rebecca; Goodenough, Anne E. (2018).
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625:(2). Springer in cooperation with International Association for Ecology: 236–241.
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A mature ant colony seasonally produces winged virgin queens and males, called
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146:. The actual "take off" from the parent colony is also often synchronized to
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Another variation is found in species with multi-queen colonies, such as
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Colorado State
University Cooperative Extension specialist, entomology
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with males and then land to start a new colony, or, in the case of
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Typically the virgin queens and males first scatter to ensure
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Within a few days after they have emerged (eclosed) from the
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Not all ants follow the basic pattern described above. In
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467:"Can a queen lay eggs of certain types of ants at will?"
563:"Viewpoint: Is there such a thing as 'flying ant day'?"
91:, continue the succession of an existing hived colony.
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590:"Flying ants: Swarms appear on weather map as 'rain'"
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Bugs in the system: insects and their impact on human
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The winged version of ants and termites are known as
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58:is an important phase in the reproduction of most
221:Flying Ant from Calgary, Alberta Canada Aug 2018
169:One queen usually mates with several males. The
492:"Flying ants plague London | Metro.co.uk"
674:Ant nuptial flights tracking around the world
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189:Young queen beginning to dig a new colony
173:is stored in a special organ, known as a
40:
29:
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70:species. It is also observed in some
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114:preparing for their nuptial flight
25:
83:During the flight, virgin queens
27:Mating flight of eusocial insects
251:
239:
450:Sociobiology: The New Synthesis
381:"How Does An Ant Colony Start"
1:
258:Queen with her wings torn off
690:Ant Hill Wood - Winged Ants
561:Hart, Adam (18 July 2017).
130:receive special attention.
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715:Western honey bee behavior
680:Information on ant species
162:. The queens then release
148:overwhelm their predators
429:May R. Berenbaum (1996)
234:to the next generation.
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77:Rhamphomyia longicauda
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51:Winged ants in Finland
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109:
50:
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351:Honey bee life cycle
730:Insect reproduction
631:1981Oecol..50..236B
538:2018Ecogr..41..877H
639:10.1007/BF00348045
547:10.1111/ecog.03140
302:Solenopsis invicta
293:Solenopsis invicta
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223:
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112:yellow meadow ants
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154:During the flight
102:Before the flight
74:species, such as
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16:(Redirected from
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469:. Archived from
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445:Edward O. Wilson
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409:Edward O. Wilson
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383:. Archived from
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246:Queen with wings
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181:After the flight
110:Male and female
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283:only males are
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122:. Unfertilized
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710:Insect ecology
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684:On Flying Ants
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672:antflights.com
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666:External links
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598:. 17 July 2019
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532:(6): 877–888.
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56:Nuptial flight
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18:Mating flight
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600:. Retrieved
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572:. Retrieved
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500:. Retrieved
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471:the original
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389:. Retrieved
385:the original
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211:Atta sexdens
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705:Myrmecology
678:antbase.org
496:metro.co.uk
175:spermatheca
160:outcrossing
66:, and some
699:Categories
477:2007-07-13
391:2007-07-13
367:References
335:ant colony
306:inbreeding
264:Variations
164:pheromones
144:inbreeding
89:honey bees
619:Oecologia
526:Ecography
361:Queen ant
356:Queen bee
281:army ants
228:predators
655:28311095
595:BBC News
568:BBC News
455:page 141
447:(2000),
414:The ants
345:See also
314:parasite
310:predator
35:Meat ant
647:4216453
627:Bibcode
602:17 July
574:17 July
534:Bibcode
502:12 July
417:, p.176
140:insects
64:termite
653:
645:
498:. 2011
435:, p.67
411:(1990)
285:alates
273:Lasius
128:larvae
120:alates
96:alates
643:JSTOR
522:(PDF)
232:genes
171:sperm
651:PMID
604:2019
576:2019
504:2011
135:pupa
124:eggs
85:mate
635:doi
542:doi
312:or
275:sp.
72:fly
68:bee
60:ant
701::
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633:.
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