• Queen - The queen begins her life with wings, which she uses while mating. After mating with a male ant (or many males), she flies to her nesting area. She then loses her wings and spends her life laying eggs.
• Workers - Workers are the many sterile (non-reproducing), wingless female worker ants who are the daughters of the queen. These workers collect food and feed members of the colony, defend the colony, and enlarge the nest. Most of the ants in a colony are workers.
• Soldiers - Soldiers are large workers (sterile females) who defend the colony and often raid other colonies, capturing slaves.
• Males - Males are small ants that have wings. They fly from the colony to mate with a queen. They die soon afterwards.