Bug and Insect Illustration (Illustrator)

Ants (Family: Formicidae), colored pencil and watercolor
Commissioned by: California Science Center Foundation

About Ants:
Ants are eusocial, living within colonies with infertile females (the workers), fertile winged males (the drones) and fertile winged females (the queens). Queens remove their wings when they start a new nest. Ants are typically red, brown, or black. They live underground or in dead wood on all but the coldest continents. Sizes vary between 1 mm and 30 mm. Ants have complete metamorphosis. Queen ants live a few years. Workers live for a few months to a year. Males live only a few weeks, dying after mating.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda (having a segmented body with appendages on each segment)
Class: Insecta
Suborder: Pterygota
Order: Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, ants)
Suborder: Apocrita
Superfamily: Vespoidea
Family: Formicidae

More about ants:
Wikipedia: Ant
Bug Guide: Family Formicidae - Ants
University of Michigan: Ants

Keywords related to art on this page: hymenoptera, illustrator, ants, ant, image, picture, art, artist, insect, insects, bug, bugs, invertebrate, invertebrates