While most ants are wingless, some develop wings during a specific life stage. These winged ants serve a unique, temporary role within the colony, differing from the more familiar worker ants.
The Ants That Fly
Only reproductive members of an ant colony, known as alates, develop wings. These alates include male ants and virgin queen ants. Worker ants, sterile females, remain wingless throughout their lives, responsible for foraging, nest maintenance, and caring for the brood.
Winged male ants, or drones, are generally smaller than queens, with straighter antennae and larger eyes. Their bodies are typically more slender, with a less robust thorax than worker ants. Virgin queen ants are larger than both worker and male ants, possessing a robust body for future egg-laying and flight muscles. Both male and virgin queen alates have two pairs of wings, though the front wings of ants are noticeably larger than their hind wings. This unequal wing size is a distinguishing feature when differentiating them from other winged insects.
Why Ants Grow Wings and What Happens Next
Ants grow wings primarily for reproduction, specifically for the “nuptial flight” or mating flight. This flight is a synchronized emergence of winged males and virgin queens from various colonies, typically triggered by warm, humid weather conditions, often after rainfall. During this airborne event, male ants compete to mate with virgin queens, sometimes mating mid-air. The nuptial flight ensures genetic diversity by facilitating mating between ants from different colonies, which is important for the species’ long-term health.
After mating, male and queen ants diverge. Male ants typically die shortly after mating, having fulfilled their sole reproductive purpose. Their lifespan is often very short, sometimes lasting only a few days to a couple of weeks after the nuptial flight.
A mated queen ant will search for a location to establish a new colony. Once a nesting site is found, she sheds her wings, as they are no longer needed. These shed wings can also serve as a nutrient source during colony founding.
She then begins laying eggs, relying on the sperm stored from her single mating flight to fertilize eggs throughout her life, which can span many years.
Understanding winged ants also helps differentiate them from winged termites, which are often confused. Winged ants have elbowed antennae, a constricted or “pinched” waist, and front wings longer than hind wings. Termites, conversely, have straight antennae, a broad waist, and all four wings of equal size. These distinctions highlight the unique biological roles and life cycles of these insects.