Ant colony Ant colony An ant colony is the basic unit around which ants organize their lifecycle. Ant colonies are eusocial, and are very much like those found in other social Hymenoptera, though the various groups of these developed sociality independently through convergent evolution. The typical colony consists of one or more egg-laying queens, a large number of sterile females (workers, soldiers) and, seasonally, a large number of winged sexual males and females. In order to establish new colonies, ants undertake nuptial flights that occur at species-characteristic times of the day. Swarms of the winged sexuals (known as alates) depart the nest
Little black ant Workers may forage in households, but nest in soil mounds. It also tends aphids such as the soybean aphid ("Aphis glycines"), harvesting honeydew. During mid-summer the queens and males perform the nuptial flight, mating in midair. The males die shortly after. Each queen constructs a new nest, sheds its wings, and lays eggs. The development from egg to adult takes about a month. In a laboratory setting queens were found to live about one year and workers about four months. Little black ant The little black ant ("Monomorium minimum") is a species of ant native to North America. It is