Ants are social insects, and as such, live in colonies. Ants have different "family members" that perform different functions to maintain the colony:

 

Workers build the nest, forage for food, and care for the larvae and reproductive ants. Reproductives include the queen and swarmers (winged ants). The queens job is to lay eggs. The job of the Swarmer is to fly off and start new colonies. The king and queen swarmers mate and the king soon dies while the queen finds a good place to lose her wings, nest and start a colony. The queen will than cloister herself within the nest for several weeks or more until her eggs mature. She lays her eggs within the nest, cares for her young and rarely, if ever, leaves the nest again. She relies on workers to groom her and feed the colony once the first generation hatches out.

 

Ants are members of the order Hymenoptera and undergo complete metamorphosis passing through four stages.

 

These stages are Egg, Larva,Pupa and Adult. First the eggs hatch into a larvae that will be cared for by the workers. Larvae than pupates into either adult workers or reproductives.  After a few years (usually 2-3) the colony will mature and produce reprodcutive swarmers every year. ( This is important to know because if you see winged ant's in your home there is a mature colony either inside or nearby.) 

 

 Ants have three basic body parts: The head, Thorax and abdomen.