Ants with wings?

Question

Are they really ants or a certain type of fly that closely resembles an ant? If not, how did they get the wings? Are they ants? I see them around my bathroom and porch in the summer and they have always puzzled me. When I was little, someone joked that they get the wings off of dead flies. I know this can't be true but that's why I'm confused. Please help me solve this enigma of the flying ants!

Answer 1

i think termites look like that

Answer 2

they are queen ants.

Answer 3

i think they're like the queen of the ant colonies...

Answer 4

they are a termite helper

Answer 5

they can either be flying ants (winged ants) or the queens have wings..

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ant_...

Answer 7

LOOOOOOL about ants getting wings off of dead flies.!!

You know when a Caterpillar changes to a butterfly?? We'll that's what happens to some type of particular ants.

I know they have always puzzled me too!!

Annoying little creatures!!

Answer 8

I think there is a winged type...but I also thought that the "queens" had wings, mind you, my knowlege of this comes from the pixar movie "A bugs Life"...try wikipedia?

Answer 9

The Queen gives birth to all the ants. Some have wings. The ones with wings fly away to mate and start their own colony. The male winged ant mates, and then dies. The female, after mating, will fly to a good spot, rub off her wings, and make a little ant hill. She will have baby ants, and they will make the hill bigger, get food, etc. She is the queen of that ant hill.

Add: For some of the answers- the queen does not fly, she rubs off her wings, and she does not even walk, she has another ant carry her. Bug's Life is not particularly accurate!

Answer 10

Tada!!! Here is a site that'll answer all of your questions! ^^

http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4...

Answer 11

they are called queen ants. & yes they can fly.

Answer 12

hey!! thats the same thing going on with me.......they are so annoying!! well, i tried looking up close at them (doesnt really work because the buzz off) and from what i could see, i guess they're super tiny flies. they have the  two big red eyes, so....

p.s. if you learn how to get rid of em, please let me know...i tried bug spray, but they die off, then more invade.

Answer 13

That's the queen of the ant colony.So the Queen only has wings but there must be a lot of queen ants where you live.Because I've only seen one so far in my lifetime and it was big and black with wings.But I think they lose their wings once they start to reproduce.Uhhh just the thought of seeing another creeps me out!

Answer 14

queen ants,

like in bugs life :D

Answer 15

They are ants who drink redbull.....

Answer 16

yes there are..they cant fly lobg distances...but yes..there are ants that can fly...they get in our pool all the time

Answer 17

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Answer 18

it's the queen ants :)

Answer 19

when i was a kid ididn't know it either.one day i caught an ant and kept it in a transparent jar.a few minutes later it removed its outer covering and grew wings.it is just like abutterfly.true story.

Answer 20

An ant with wings is the queen ant. They pretty much have the same body construction as all the other ants except they have wings and are larger in size. The wings are necessary for mating. Once the virgin queen ant is mature enough to reproduce they fly away and mate during flight, after which they land to start a colony. The wings eventually are detached. Sometimes the queen ant detaches the wings herself and in some cases other worker ants might chew them off.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 21

Termites. They have an insidious habit of spreading themselves by flying to their next destruction site.