worker

…a colony: queens, males, and workers. Male ants play no part in everyday nest activities. They live only for a short time, occur in limited numbers, and are virtual parasites of the colony, which must feed them. The fertile female, the queen, performs only one task: egg laying. The life…

…60,000 sexually undeveloped females, the worker bees; and from none to 1,000 male bees, or drones. The female of most species of bees is equipped with a venomous sting.

Workers in eusocial colonies are thought to forgo reproduction due to constraints on independent breeding. Such constraints include shortages of food, territories, protection, skill, nest sites, appropriate weather for breeding, and available mates. Workers may never reproduce during their entire lives; however, they gain exclusive…

It inhibits the workers from building special brood cells that give rise to sexually developed individuals. If the queen fails to secrete this substance because of age or death, the workers immediately construct special brood cells with a substance they secrete; called royal jelly, it is necessary for…

…female castes are known as workers, which are females that do not attain sexual maturity, and queens, females that are larger than the workers. The males, or drones, are larger than the workers and are present only in early summer. The workers and queens have stingers, whereas the drones are…

The sterile castes are the workers and soldiers. Both are wingless and usually lack eyes. Although these can be either male or female, they lack fully developed reproductive organs. In some species the workers and soldiers are dimorphic (of two sizes), with…