subcaste

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The largest subcaste, the maximas (also called soldiers) are large indeed. Their heads are much more massive than the entire body of the minima. The maximas weigh more than 30 times what the minimas do, and are about 7 times more massive than the medias (also called workers).
The maximas are only produced when the colony reaches a certain size - around 10,000 workers (H�lldobler and Wilson 1994, 121). Their role is not to cut and carry leaves, but, as the name soldier implies, to defend the colony from other insects and even from vertebrate predators. Their massive jaws and a sting (the ovipositor of these sterile females) provide the means of defense, although all of the workers can bite and sting as well. Soldiers also use their massive bodies to move objects that the smaller medias and minimas cannot.