genera Colletes and Hylaeuscan be found in Europe, while in North America there are, in addition to these two, the genera Caupolicana, Eulonchopria, and Ptiloglossa.
Ants are among the most highly evolved of insects. The variety of lifestyles displayed by ants is amazing--perhaps because so many of their social behaviors seemingly parallel our own.
All living ant species have a caste system. The main castes consist of kings, queens and workers. The kings are winged reproductive males that contribute absolutely nothing to the labor of the colony. The winged females swarm with the males, similarly to the behavior previously discussed with termites. Eventually they will become the queens of new colonies. During the establishment of a new colony, the new queen initially performs all the work tasks; but once her first brood of worker larvae is reared to adulthood, her sole duty is to lay eggs. Unlike termites, ant colonies may have many queens, in some cases, hundreds.
Workers are sterile females and can be both the laborers and defenders of the colony. In most ant species there can be sub-castes of the workers, namely majors, media and minors. Relative head and overall body size distinguish subcastes. The majors are the largest of the three and possess a disproportionately large head and mandibles. The function of the soldiers is to protect the ant colonies. The media and minor workers are the most common individuals in an ant colony and perform the majority of the work duties. Minor worker ants also perform a variety of functions depending on the species of ant.
Ant Wars, Competition and Survival. Ants are amongst the most aggressive and war-like of all animals. If ants had a policy of life it could be summarized as restless aggression, territorial conquest, and total annihilation of neighboring colonies. These insects use any of a number of strategies and weapons to reach these ultimate goals. Chemical warfare is prevalent amongst many species including spraying a variety of toxic chemicals in order to repel, confu