Lifecycle and reproduction

Fire ants reproduce quickly due to their short lifecycle. Learn how this helps them to grow their colonies and expand to new areas.

Fire ant lifecycle stages

Fire ant colonies can grow rapidly. One fire ant queen can lay several hundred to several thousand eggs each day, which allows them to quickly become established.

Their lifecycle has 4 stages:

  1. fire ant queen lays eggs
  2. eggs hatch and become larvae
  3. larvae become pupae
  4. pupae develop into adult ants.

The adult ants will become either a:

  • queen—lays eggs to grow the colony
  • worker—sterile, builds the nest, cares for the young and searches for food
  • alates—fertile ants that eventually leave the colony to begin their mating flights.

Colony maturity

It usually takes 6 months to 1 year for a fire ant colony to mature and start producing alates.

Remember, even if you don't see ants on your property, it doesn't mean they aren't there. Learn how to safely inspect your yard.

How colony types affect reproduction

Fire ant colonies are either monogyne (have a single queen) or polygyne (have multiple queens).

Monogyne colonies

Monogyne colonies are highly territorial. Monogyne alates:

  • mate exclusively through flight
  • can fly up to 5km to establish a new nest.

Most of the fire ant population in Queensland are monogyne.

Polygyne colonies

Polygyne colonies are less territorial towards other polygyne colonies and are known to share resources.

Polygyne alates generally mate inside the nest and new nests are established via budding. This process involves a new daughter colony becoming established a short distance away from the parent colony.

These colonies can be more difficult to destroy and require more rounds of treatment than other nests, due to their multiple queens.

Related content