What Ants Have Wings?
The ants you see forming a conga line across your kitchen floor almost never have wings, which gives rise to a myth that winged ants belong to a completely separate species. In truth, wingless ants are often the same species as nearby winged ants. They're simply workers or soldiers and have no need for wings. Does this Spark an idea?
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Purpose
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Wings are used to facilitate the mating ritual, which means that only queens and males have them. The wings allow the queen and the males to distance themselves from the original colony.
Significance
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During the mating period, the queens and males fly into the air, creating a swarm. The swarm can often include ants from several different colonies.
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Mating
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Once the mating is complete, the queen lands to form a new colony and her wings fall off.
Food
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After her wings fall off, the queen's wing muscles become a source of nutrition for her new brood, which can be very important in the early days of a new colony.
Concerns
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Swarms of winged males and queens can be quite alarming, but they almost never pose any kind of a risk to human beings.
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