Ant Colony Life Cycle:
Colony Foundation
An ant colony starts in general with a queen (alate reproductive female) that has just landed from the nuptial flight in which she has been inseminated by one or more males, has lost her wings, and has found a protected place or has excavated a chamber.
A colony may be founded by two or more queens, in general sisters, that may stay together for the whole colony life or else go away to found their own colonies some time after the found of the original colony.
2. A queen may receive help from workers of her mother nest, in this case the tasks not related to reproduction will be performed by these workers from the beginning of the colony cycle.
3. A queen intrudes into a colony of another ant species, kills the resident queen, and then uses the host workers to breed her own brood ( Social Parasitic Nest Foundation).
More details may be found in these references.
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