Black garden ant
The first worker ants are very small. Later generations of ants grow much bigger. The new worker ants begin make the nest bigger. They take care of the queen and her eggs. They open the entrance to the nest and begin to look for food above ground. They need to gather food quickly to support future growth and to feed the starved queen. The queen will have lost around 50% of her body weight. The queen will lay more eggs, which is her only task in the colony. The later generations of worker ants will be bigger, stronger and more aggressive because there is more food for them while they are growing. Instead of only having the queens to look after them, they have a team of foraging and nursing workers. Provided workers are able to find food, the colony will see an exponential rise in population. After several years, when colony is well established, the queen will lay eggs that will become new queens and males. Black ants often make large nests with with tunnels connecting the different sections.