Family Formicidae
In the family Formicidae, there are over 14,000 species of ants. Formicidae comes from the formic acid ants use to defend themselves. Most ants range between 2-25 millimeters, though queens can be much larger. An example of this is the queen of the species Dorylus Helvolus, which can grow up to 50 millimeters in length, making it the largest on the planet.
“The lifespan of ants varies among the castes, with sterile females living from one to three years, whereas queens can live up to 30 years. Males usually only survive a few weeks. Colonies are large, and those of some tropical army ants may number several million individuals.” Walters, Martin. The Illustrated World Encyclopedia of Insects. Lorenz Books, 2022. p. 68.
Some ant species have developed specialized behaviors that can be strongly associated with plants. For example, Leaf Cutter Ants have been compared to behaving like farmers by harvesting pieces of leaves and returning them to their nest. There the leaves are processed by the ants by chewing them to allow fungus, which the ants feed on, to grow on.