Explore the biology of alate insects, including reproductive castes, mating flights, wing development, dealation, colony founding and differences between winged and wingless forms.
Female ant alates are often larger and more heavily built than ordinary workers of the same species, but alates are not universally the larger caste. The comparison depends on whether the alate is female or male, which worker is being used for comparison, and how size is measured. In some ants, reproductive females and workers
No. Not every ant colony produces alates, and a colony that is capable of producing them may produce none during a particular season or year. In ant species that use winged reproductives, alate production usually begins only after the colony reaches a species-specific stage of reproductive maturity. Colony age can matter, but age alone is
Dealation is adult wing loss after a winged phase. See how ants and termites shed wings, what triggers it, and why it does not prove mating.
The alate phase fits differently into ant, termite, and aphid life cycles, linking development and dispersal with mating or colony founding.
Insect wings can evolve, disappear, or occur only in certain sexes, castes, stages, or morphs when flight provides a biological advantage.
Compare alate and apterous insect forms by wings, development, dispersal, caste, and species context across aphids, ants, and termites.
An alate is a winged form. In entomology, the term is used especially for the winged reproductives of ants and termites and for winged morphs of insects such as aphids. It does not name a species or taxonomic group. In botany, alate has the related meaning of having a wing or wing-like expansion.[a][b] The word