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Home » Forums » General Discussion

Are there solitary ants?

Hello.

I was wondering if there are any species of ants which are solitary. When I was young, I read that there were (sadly, I cannot recall where I read it)

...but lately, I keep hearing that - while ants are solitary foragers, all ants live in large nests.


Thank you.
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Contributed by Keenir on 17 January, 2017 - 11:30pm

nope :)
According to the guide page: All living ant species are eusocial (='truly social'), or are workerless parasites requiring the eusocial medium of a host ant species' colony.
… metrioptera, 18 January, 2017 - 9:22am login or register to post comments

 
given their relatives, that's odd
that's odd. I mean, bees and wasps have solitary species, so why don't ants?
… Keenir, 18 January, 2017 - 3:54pm login or register to post comments

 
Eusociality is a derived trait
The earliest bees and wasps were solitary. Along the way some lineages evolved eusociality. I don't know of any cases where a eusocial insect evolved back to solitary. (There are some facultatively social bees without strong caste distinctions.) Ants are a highly successful eusocial lineage.

David Grimaldi's Evolution of the Insects discusses the general topic, without asking the question "why did ants not revert to solitary?"
… John F. Carr, 18 January, 2017 - 7:51pm login or register to post comments

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