This time of year the ants are sending forth the winged "virgin queens" and male winged ants to mate and found new colonies. In most ant species the entire colony is female aside from these male 'breeders' who only live long enough to mate. They fertilize the queen with all the male gametes she will need for her entire life. She stores them in her body and releases them as needed (in fact she determines the sex of her young by either providing male gametes, creating a female worker, or withholding them, creating a haploid male breeder, or 'drone'). In most cases the fertilized queen also dies, either being eaten or killed by other ants. But a few make it and found new colonies.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: maine-birds@googlegroups.com [mailto:maine-birds@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jeff Stevens
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 1:28 AM
To: Maine Birds
Subject: Re: [Maine-birds] Ant hatch
I too noticed flying ants in my backyard in Windsor this afternoon.
For a short period, there were hundreds of them flying around. Pretty ignorant of ant behavior in general. Not sure if they were males and females on a nuptial flight or what. It was quite a sight though.
-Jeff
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