An ant colony
lives in a nest. Different types of ants build different kinds of
nests.
Harvester
ants build elaborate underground nests with tunnels linking the
chambers together. Tailor ants build their nests by "sewing"
leaves together, forming long, green tubular nests. Nomadic ants
(like the army and driver ants) roam from place to place searching
for food. They cluster together, sometimes in groups of a million
or more, moving across the forest floor or attaching themselves
to floating logs and rafting down a stream.
Worker:
The worker has no wings. It shows marked fusion of the thoracic
regions. The metanotum has disappeared in the worker. The worker
can be regarded as being female in terms of gender. However, since
the reproductive organs have degenerated, the worker is distinguished
from the egg-laying female (queen). The sizes of workers often vary
among different species. Workers with large heads, are called soldiers.
Female,
queen: The egg-laying female resembles the workers, except that
she has ocelli on her head and that her thorax morphologically
differs from that of the worker. The female has wings on her thorax.
For this reason, the mesonotum is well developed in the female, even
after the wings have fallen off. The metanotum is also evident in
the female.
Male:
As compared to the female and the worker, the male can
be characterized by: (1) well-developed compound eyes and ocelli,
(2) the antenna composed of many segments, and (3) short scapes
and a degenerated mandible. The thorax has developed in the male
as well as in the female.
