You searched for: “repletes
replete (s), repletes (pl)
1. An individual ant whose crop is greatly distended with liquid food, to the extent that the abdominal segments are pulled apart and the intersegmental membranes are stretched tight.

Repletes usually serve as living reservoirs, regurgitating food on demand to their nest mates.

2. In some colonies, the foraging workers gather termites, nectar from desert plants, and honeydew from homopterous insects, and store them in the crops of the repletes, nest mates that are specialized to serve as food storage receptacles.

A forager will regurgitate liquid from her crop into an expanding replete, while other full repletes hang from the ceiling of the nest chamber.

This entry is located in the following unit: Ant and Related Entomology Terms (page 18)