1. Social Relationships

2. 3 types of Sociality Solitary – majority of insects Presocial – earwigs, roaches, Bess bugs Eusocial – ants, termites, bees

3. Solitary Insects Don’t qualify as social insects Only get together to mate or compete

4. Presocial Insects Exhibit parental care of offspring

5. Eusocial Insects Overlap in generations Cooperation of rearing young Sterile castes –Ex. Workers, soldiers Form societies

6. Termites

7. Colony Structure Queen – lays eggs for the colony King – mates with queen Alate (winged) – leave to form new colonies Workers – blind – forage for food, nest maintenance Soldiers – Defend nest, attack ants

8. Colony

9. Nests

10. Some really cool mounds

11. Let’s talk about Bees

12. Honey Bees Queen –Mates in-flight –Lays 1500-2500 eggs/day for 5 years! Worker –All Daughters of the Queen –Will fly over 400 miles in her lifetime! Can we say “Busy as a Bee?!” Drone –Sting-less, unclean, males only used for mating –Die after explosively ejaculating semen into the Queen

14. Honeycomb Bees survive the winter on their stored honey reserves We use the honeycomb for honey and the wax

15. And who doesn’t like Honeycomb?!!?!!??

16. Waggle Dance Bees who find food come back to the hive “waggling” the direction to the other workers

18. Swarms Swarming is the way colonies divide when space is limited. Colonies are able to keep reproducing this way. Beekeepers catch swarms to start new hives

19. Bee Beards

20. Africanized (Killer) Bees Hybrids of African Honey Bee –Swarm frequently –Aggressive protective behavior Venom is no more potent that other bees, but attack in greater numbers

21. Popular culture has made “Killer” bees seem scarier than they really are…

22. So let’s not forget how great bees really are. The value of some bees = millions of $$

23. Ants Who remembers Anty?

24. Ever wonder why they are called “fire ants?”

26. Colony Fertile Queen Sterile Female Workers = all the queen’s daughters

27. Colony Cont. Workers take care of the brood Winged Males die after mating with the Queen

28. Ants live in Mansions! The whole nest consists of tiny rooms or chambers

29. They also like to farm aphids Aphids excrete honeydew, so the ants like them! In return, the aphids get protection from the ants, especially from ladybugs!

30. Yum Yum!

31. Let’s take a look at Ants and How they Live!