Flying ants' evolution.

[fredpuli47]

Flying ants we see emerging now are 'ordinary' ants. How have these insects evolved? Were their ancestors originally flying insects, which evolved to lose their wings or were they the primitive ancestors of all flying insects, which evolved into insects which kept their wings?

[martybabe]

The flying ants we see are the reproductive individuals of 'ordinary' ants. The larger flying ants are future queens and the smaller flying ants are the males which mate with the future queens, and then die.

Ants are thought to have evolved from primitive wasp-like ancestors around 130 million years ago which could fly. The loss of wings in most ants is an adaptation to living underground.