 suck its contents into the mouth. The so-called "honey" tastes somewhat like molasses, while the ants' bodies, being bitter, are discarded. Perhaps fortunately for honey ants, this practice seems to have fallen by the wayside due to the advent of commercially available candies. These not only taste better but are much less work to procure.
Many social insects, notably honey bees and some wasps, collect and store liquid sweets for later use. However, these insects stow their food within the confines of their nest combs. Honey ants are unique in using their own bodies as living storage vessels.
But why develop repletes? In arid regions, food and water usually are obtainable only for very limited periods. But when available, as during the brief summer rainy or growing season, these resources are present in overwhelming abundance. Under favorable conditions, surplus food gathered by the colony is fed to the repletes for long-term storage. Then, in times of need, the food is regurgitated back to colony members.
While the formation of food-storing repletes seems remarkable, it is merely an exaggerated form of typical ant behavior. Most ants possess expandable abdominal crops (stomachs) for temporarily carrying liquid food back to the nest. When solicited by a hungry nestmate, they regurgitate this liquid and offer a small droplet held between their mandibles. Close observation will reveal that the donor ant's abdomen shrinks as the recipient's abdomen expands. Thus, the crop serves as a "communal stomach" and repletism simply as extreme development of this expandable organ.
In the presence of excess food, repletes can develop from any newly emerged worker, apparently before its exoskeleton and intersegmental membranes harden and become less flexible. In young colonies, it is not uncommon to find small workers serving as somewhat ineffective repletes, with their tiny abdomens distended to the bursting point. However, on an individual basis, major workers make the most efficient honeypots. Hundreds to a thousand or more