Ants – structure, life cycle and other information

There is a lot of truth in the saying that someone is “as hard-working as an ant” – these surprising little creatures play a huge role in many ecosystems through their daily work. So maybe it’s worth taking a closer look at them? Whether you are passionate about ant farming or simply want to learn a little more about ants, below we will try to dispel any doubts about their structure, life cycle and taxonomy. Be sure to read on!

Is an ant an insect?

Is an ant an insect? For many enthusiasts of pet ants, they can be unique pets, but before you decide to keep such unusual creatures in your own home, it is worth learning more about ant taxonomy. This will make it easier for you to understand some of its behaviours, and keeping a formicarium will become even more rewarding. But let’s return to the fundamental question – is an ant an insect?

Ants (Formicidae), which include the common ant (actually, according to estimates, as many as 20,000 species inhabiting the entire world), are insects belonging to the order Hymenoptera.

A characteristic feature of ants is their community building, which is quite complex and, in addition, caste-based. In their often enormous nests, each ant has a specific role that it performs throughout its entire insect life. Needless to say, this is an extremely busy life, right? More information on the division of roles among ants can be found in the following paragraphs of this article.

What do ants look like?

What does an ant look like? If you look at it from your perspective, you can only see a tiny creature quickly traversing the world and moving forward with a purpose known only to itself. A black dot with several pairs of legs and a slightly more visible, larger head. However, despite its undeniably small size, this insect can be fascinating – and a well-kept formicarium in your home will help you learn about its anatomy in great detail.

What does an ant look like up close? What does an ant’s “face” look like? If you look at it under high magnification, for example under a microscope, an ant up close can seem quite… scary! A solid shell, bulging eyes and mandibles that can instantly crush food can certainly inspire a very original Halloween costume! However, in most cases, there is nothing to be afraid of – in fact, few species of ants pose a serious threat to humans, which, if anything, is usually associated with an allergic reaction after a bite.

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

The structure of an ant – what should you know?

The anatomy of an ant may seem rather simple at first glance, but it is an insect that is truly worth taking a closer look at. Why? Because it is fascinating that such a small organism can be so complex – which 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. By observing insects up close, you will quickly learn to distinguish between these parts. In addition, depending on the species, the segments of an ant’s body may have distinctive features, such as colour.

The most important part of the body, from the point of view of every ant, of course, is the head. An important part of it are the aforementioned mandibles, i.e. evolutionarily transformed limbs growing out of the insect’s mouthparts. These jaws are used by the ant to grasp food and grind it up. If necessary, the ant can also use them to scare off potential attackers – it then assumes a slightly raised position and presents its impressive, menacing-looking mandibles to its opponent.

The head also houses important ant sensory organs. First and foremost, these are the eyes, which in these insects are quite complex, slightly bulging and arranged in a structure resembling a honeycomb. Next to the eyes and mandibles, the organ that transmits sensations is the antennae. These are extremely important parts of the body, because they allow the ant to taste and feel. That’s a lot for one small head, isn’t it? Is there any room left in it? To ask directly, does an ant have a brain? Yes, it does! And it’s quite large, consisting of as many as 250,000 nerve cells.

Ant legs and abdomens

How many legs does an ant have? This insect belongs to the hexapod subphylum, so it moves on six legs. Interestingly, the first pair of legs usually has hooks, which allow the ant to effectively clean its mouthparts and antennae!

The abdomen is connected to the thorax in a flexible manner, allowing the ant to move very efficiently and quickly. Some species may also have a sting on their abdomen, but these are very rare cases (for example, the fire ant). However, absolutely all ants can bite (using their mandibles) and are equipped with a venom gland. This is where formic acid, i.e. the venom itself, is produced.

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

Male ants have a slightly longer, slimmer body compared to females (workers), which is due, among other things, to the fact that males do not perform such heavy work. Their antennae are also less developed.

The queen, or mother ant, is an insect whose body clearly stands out from the other inhabitants of the colony. Her body is exceptionally large, and her torso is wide enough to accommodate eggs. In other words, the queen’s silhouette gives her appropriate authority over the other ants.

How much does an ant weigh? A typical ant is very light, weighing around 3 milligrams, while the queen will always be slightly heavier, depending on the species.

How do ants reproduce?

The queen is responsible for the reproduction of ants. During her mating flight, she can mate with many males, collecting sperm during copulation for her entire future life (and that of the colony). The fertilised eggs hatch into offspring that are genetically diverse (thanks to the use of sperm from different fathers).

However, it is most often the case that the queen will mate with only one male – in this case, all the eggs will be clones of the mother, with identical DNA.

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

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

As you already know, after her mating flight, the queen goes to the nest (she may be carried there by workers or she may build her own nest by digging a tunnel in a place of her choice). Within about a month, the first eggs laid hatch into workers, who are responsible for expanding the nest and providing food for the queen so that she can lay more eggs. Importantly, the queen uses the sperm obtained during her first and only copulation throughout her entire life. This is spectacular because an ant queen can live for more than a dozen years, continuously laying eggs fertilised the first time…

Ant egg

The life cycle of an ant begins with an egg. What do ant eggs look like? They are really tiny and at first glance may resemble grains of salt (they are whitish in colour, which further enhances this impression). Fertilised eggs will hatch into workers. Those that have not been fertilised will hatch into male ants.

The incubation period for a fertilised ant egg ranges from a few days to over a week, with most known species taking around a week. After this time, an ant larva hatches from the egg, only slightly larger than the egg itself.

Ant larva

Immediately after hatching from an ant egg, the larva remains completely dependent on the worker ants that care for it. It does not yet have developed legs or eyes, so it cannot move independently and can only obtain food from other ants. The feeding by worker ants itself is quite spectacular – because the larvae do not have mouthparts as developed as adult ants, the food is placed on the larvae’s bodies by the worker ants, where special enzymes digest it and facilitate the absorption of nutrients “through the skin”. Sometimes the larvae are also carried by the workers to a food source and placed, for example, on carrion.

It is important to distinguish between several stages of larval development, during which the worm sheds its skin several times as its body grows (this shedding is referred to as moulting, as in reptiles).

Ant pupa

In the final stage of development, when the larva becomes more than twice as large as it was when it hatched (this takes about two weeks) and changes colour to greyish, it begins to transform into a pupa. Some species, using a special gland, spin a cocoon around themselves, which will protect their body while their legs and eyes develop.

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

Adult ant

After chewing through the cocoon, a mature ant emerges, but it is white in colour. This is the so-called imago, i.e. an insect whose shell has yet to harden. Access to natural sunlight and food means that within a few days, the adult ant takes on the appropriate dark colour, and its armour becomes hard and resistant to external factors. The entire development process, from egg laying to adulthood, takes about a month.

Ants living in colonies know their roles precisely and stick to them throughout their lives, which are divided into castes. Thus, in the case of the queen, her main task is to ensure the continuous birth of offspring. Thanks to this, she is treated exceptionally well by her workers – they take care of her hygiene, provide her with food, and then take care of the eggs and larvae, treating them almost like in a human nursery.

Some workers only work in the nest, while others search for food outside of it. Depending on the species or even the size of the nest, there is also a caste division among the workers. There are larger insects that act as soldiers, medium-sized ones responsible for cleaning and building the colony, and smaller ones that act as “nursery nurses”.

Among the hatching ants, there may be new future queens. During their mating flights, they will leave the colony to meet a male and then establish their own nest. These ants, equipped with wings (discarded after the colony is established), will therefore make their first and only mating flight after reaching maturity, and then begin their entire complex life cycle in a new location.

Unfortunately, the least active and interesting life is that of the male ant. His role is simple – he is to fertilise the queen, and after completing this important task, he dies.

How long do ants live?

In the above material, we have already mentioned, between the lines, the expected lifespan of an ant. As can be easily deduced, it depends on a number of factors – primarily on the role that the ant plays in its community.

Male ants have the shortest lifespan. Although they play an important role in fertilising the queen, they simply die after the process is complete. Their lives therefore usually end within a month or two.

The queen ant lives the longest – under favourable conditions (for example, in a home formicarium), she can live for over 25 years! In the natural environment, this is still an impressive result – as the queen can live for 15 to 20 years. This is all thanks to the fact that she is well protected and fed by her workers.

The lifespan of worker ants ranges from several months (when they work outside the nest) to about 5 years (when they take care of its expansion, feeding the queen or caring for the young). Of course, in a safe environment, where they are not exposed to predators, they can live much longer.

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