Social Relationships

3 types of Sociality Solitary – majority of insects Presocial – earwigs, roaches, Bess bugs Eusocial – ants, termites, bees

Solitary Insects Don’t qualify as social insects Only get together to mate or compete

Presocial Insects Exhibit parental care of offspring

Eusocial Insects Overlap in generations Cooperation of rearing young Sterile castes –Ex. Workers, soldiers Form societies

Termites

Colony Structure Queen – lays eggs for the colony King – mates with queen Alate (winged) – leave to form new colonies Workers – blind – forage for food, nest maintenance Soldiers – Defend nest, attack ants

Colony

Nests

Some really cool mounds

Let’s talk about Bees

Honey Bees Queen –Mates in-flight –Lays eggs/day for 5 years! Worker –All Daughters of the Queen –Will fly over 400 miles in her lifetime! Can we say “Busy as a Bee?!” Drone –Sting-less, unclean, males only used for mating –Die after explosively ejaculating semen into the Queen

Honeycomb Bees survive the winter on their stored honey reserves We use the honeycomb for honey and the wax

And who doesn’t like Honeycomb?!!?!!??

Waggle Dance Bees who find food come back to the hive “waggling” the direction to the other workers

Swarms Swarming is the way colonies divide when space is limited. Colonies are able to keep reproducing this way. Beekeepers catch swarms to start new hives

Bee Beards

Africanized (Killer) Bees Hybrids of African Honey Bee –Swarm frequently –Aggressive protective behavior Venom is no more potent that other bees, but attack in greater numbers

Popular culture has made “Killer” bees seem scarier than they really are…

So let’s not forget how great bees really are. The value of some bees = millions of $$

Ants Who remembers Anty?

Ever wonder why they are called “fire ants?”

Colony Fertile Queen Sterile Female Workers = all the queen’s daughters

Colony Cont. Workers take care of the brood Winged Males die after mating with the Queen

Ants live in Mansions! The whole nest consists of tiny rooms or chambers

They also like to farm aphids Aphids excrete honeydew, so the ants like them! In return, the aphids get protection from the ants, especially from ladybugs!

Yum Yum!

Let’s take a look at Ants and How they Live!