Flying Ant
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Flying Ant
Invertebrate
A 'flying ant' is the winged mating stage of the black garden ant — the males (drones) and new queens that pour out on warm summer days to mate on the wing.
💡 Fun Facts
- Male ants (drones) have wings and a very short life.
- Their only purpose is to mate with a new queen.
- They live for about 3 weeks and cannot feed themselves; worker ants feed them.
Name Story
Lasius niger
means “The hairy black ant — and a humming 'drone'”
What does its name mean?
- Lasius — hairyGreek lasios
- niger — blackLatin
- drone — the male insect — tied to a low humming soundOld English (common name)
A 'drone' is a male ant, and the word is wonderfully old: it once meant the humming male bee, and the very same word later gave us the flying 'drone' aircraft. The ant itself is simply black, with a dusting of fine hairs.