An Exhibition at The Field Museum, Chicago

Ant reproduction

How do ants control the ratio of male to females in a colonie?

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Permalink Reply by Corrie Moreau on August 19, 2011 at 2:00pm

Hello Mark,

As most ants are sterile female workers, the majority of any ant colony is female. About once a year when a colony is ready to reproduce, both female and male reproductives are reared. In this case, the number of female and male reproductives are about 50/50, but again if you surveyed the entire nest the majority would be female due to the overwhelming number of sterile female workers.

Remember that females are created when the queen fertilizes an egg, meaning that females are diploid and have a pair of chromosomes one each from their mother and father. Males on the other hand, are the results of the queen laying an unfertilized egg, which means they are haploid and only have one copy of their mother's chromosomes.