The Brood
The fire ant queen continues to lay eggs throughout her life. She can live up to 7 years and produces an average of 1,000 eggs each day. The eggs hatch into white, legless, grub-like larvae that are now fed by the workers.
The fire ant larvae develop through four progressively larger stages called instars. They molt (shed their “skin”) between stages. The worker ants feed solid food to the oldest larvae (last instar). These last instars digest the food, then secrete a nutritious liquid that the workers feed on and pass to the queen through trophallaxis.
The last larval instar becomes a pupa. Instead of spinning a cocoon (like a caterpillar or a spider), the fire ant larva sheds its outer skin to reveal an ant-like form that gradually changes from white to brown. Pupae do not eat, but slowly develop into an adult ant that emerges from the pupa. The size of the larvae depends on what their ultimate form will be. Fire ant worker larvae are relatively small; future queens and males (known as “reproductives”) develop from larger larvae. All worker ants in the colony are females that sting but cannot lay eggs.
