A queen Neivamyrmex opacithorax army ant. Her enormous abdomen houses ovaries for egg production. Queen army ants are among the most fecund of all insects, as army ant colonies may have tens or hundreds of thousands of worker ants (such as the small ant pictured riding on top) and the reproduction is the work of a single mother queen. Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, USA

Pogonomyrmex badius, the Florida harvester ant, queen. Her enlarged thorax holds muscles from younger days when she had wings for dispersing from her natal nest. Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA

Multiple queens in the nest of a polygynous ant, Pheidole desertorum Mojave National Preserve, California, USA