 Workers are known to produce their own eggs , but these eggs are unfertilised and hatch into male ants . There is a chance of workers attacking a particular individual who has successfully produced male offspring due to a change in a workers cuticular hydrocarbon ; cuticular hydrocarbons are believed to play a vital role in the regulation of reproduction . However , this is not always the case . Myrmecia is one of several ant genera which possess gamergate workers , where a female worker is able to reproduce with mature males when the colony is lacking a queen . Myrmecia workers are highly fertile and can successfully mate with males . A colony of M. pyriformis without a queen was collected in 1998 and kept in captivity , during which time the gamergates produced viable workers for three years . Ovarian dissections showed that three workers of this colony mated with males and produced female workers . Queens have bigger ovaries than the workers , with 44 ovarioles while workers have 8 to 14 . Spermatheca is present in M. gulosa workers , based on eight dissected individuals showing a spermatheca structurally similar to those found in queens . These spermathecas did not have any sperm . Why the queen was not replaced is still unknown . 
