Species

• The term "honeypot ants" refers to specialized workers within colonies of honey ants. Worldwide, there are five different groups of honey ants. The largest group, Myrmecocystus spp., is found only in the western United States. Two types, Camponotus inflatus and Melophorus spp., are found only in Australia. Another, Plagiolepsis trimineni, is found in South Africa, and Leptomyrmex spp. is found in both Australia and New Guinea.
  
  

Appearance

• Honey ants look different depending on their status in the nest. Queens are larger and are born with wings, but tear them off with their back legs after mating. Males are smaller and keep their wings. Workers are small and do not have wings. The specialized workers known as honeypots or "repletes" are the distinctive ones. Gorged with nectar, they can have the appearance of walking grapes.
  
  

Society

• Honey ants have highly organized societies that function smoothly. Most colonies consist of one queen and a large number of her daughters. The worker ants can be small, medium or large in size, and this range of sizes allows for an efficient division of labor. The largest ones are usually the ones that develop into honeypots.
  
  

Breeding

• Honey ants form mating swarms, usually just after it rains. The small males die off immediately afterward, and the females tear off their own wings by rubbing their back legs vigorously over them. They then run around trying to find a place to burrow in order to lay their eggs. During this time, many of them are eaten by predators.
  
  

Feeding

• Honey ants forage on desert flowers for sugary nectar and bring it back to the nest to share with the others. Unique to this type of ant, however, the specialized ants called honeypots gorge themselves with nectar from flowering plants until they are grossly swollen. Then they attach themselves to the "ceilings" of the underground nests with their claws. There they hang, as living storage vessels, until their supplies are needed by the other ants in the colony. When the supply of nectar dries up in the desert, colony mates return to the nest and stroke the antennae of the honeypots, causing them to regurgitate into their mouths.