Acromyrmex versicolor

After mating, a young leafcutter ant queen sheds her wings. Acromyrmex versicolor. Tucson, Arizona, USA

Acromyrmex versicolor

A young leafcutter ant queen with her eggs and incipient fungus garden. Tucson, Arizona, USA

Acromyrmex versicolor

Male leaf-cutting ants congregate above the desert floor, awaiting virgin queens who fly into the swarm to mate. This species flies during the Arizona summer monsoon season, early in the morning after a soaking rain. Tucson, Arizona, USA

Acromyrmex versicolor

A queen leafcutter ant falls to the ground surrounded by multiple males attempting to mate with her. Leafcutter females typically mate with many males. Tucson, Arizona, USA

Acromyrmex versicolor

A mating ball of desert leaf-cutter ants. These balls form after a young,unmated queen flies to a swarm of male ants and drops to the ground in a competitive frenzy of potential mates. Tucson, Arizona, USA

Acromyrmex versicolor

Male desert leaf-cutting ants lek above the desert floor, awaiting virgin queens who fly into the swarm to mate. Tucson, Arizona, USA

Acromyrmex versicolor

Lit by the rising sun, a mating swarm of Acromyrmex versicolor leafcutters rises above the desert floor. Tucson, Arizona, USA

Acromyrmex versicolor & Novomessor cockerelli

Harvester ants (Novomessor cockerelli) tear apart a queen leafcutter ant (Acromyrmex versicolor) they have caught after a leafcutter mating flight. Ants won't often eat members of their own species, but they will happily consume ants of other species. Tucson, Arizona, USA

Atta texana

A leafcutter ant queen searches for a nest site after her spring mating flight. McKinney Roughs Nature Park, Texas, USA.

Atta texana & Solenopsis invicta

The unglamorous fate of male ants after mating is death, dealt in this case by a mob of hungry fire ants. Austin, Texas, USA.

Atta texana

Having dropped her wings, a newly-mated leafcutter queen begins to dig her nest. She will raise her first daughters underground, on a fungus fed solely from her body reserves. Austin, Texas, USA.

Atta texana

Having dropped her wings, a newly-mated leafcutter queen begins to dig her nest. She will raise her first daughters underground, on a fungus fed solely from her body reserves. Austin, Texas, USA.

Camponotus texanus

Male carpenter ants overwinter as adults, ready to fly on warm spring evenings. They are often one of the first ants to hold seasonal mating flights. This C. texanus male arrived to a blacklight sheet in mid-March. Austin, Texas, USA.

Iridomyrmex calvus

Male (winged, left) and worker ants scale vegetation near their nest during a mid-day mating flight. Tower Hill Reserve, Victoria, Australia.

Acropyga epedana

Mating root-aphid ants, the queen carrying a mealybug in her mandibles. Acropyga live nearly entirely by consuming secretions of root-feeding mealybugs, and the mealybugs depend on the ants for dispersal and protection. When young queen ants leave the nest to mate and start new colonies, they take a mealybug with them. Portal, Arizona, USA

Aphaenogaster picea

A young Aphaenogaster picea foundress queen raises her first crop of workers sealed in an underground chamber. She feeds the developing larvae with reserves from her own body. South Bristol, New York, USA

Prenolepis imparis

Prenolepis imparis is the first ant to hold mating flights every year in temperate North America. Alates wait out the winter and emerge on the first warm spring days. This photo was taken in early March. Urbana, Illinois, USA

Azteca isthmica

A young Azteca queen cuts into the soft tissue of a Cecropia tree to gain access to the hollow center. The trees welcome such an intrusion: the resident Azteca colony founded by this queen will provide ample protection from herbivores. Coclé, Panama

Brachymyrmex patagonicus

Rover ants mating. This species is introduced to the United States from South America. Tucson, Arizona, USA

A young Brachymyrmex queen tends to her first eggs. Maquipucuna reserve, Napo, Ecuador

A young Camponotus festinatus queen scales a grass blade to launch herself on a nocturnal mating flight. Tucson, Arizona, USA

An alate Dorymyrmex insanus queen climbs a stick of grass to gain an altitudinal head start before departing on her mating flight. Tucson, Arizona, USA