What is "neuters"

Usage examples of "neuters".

Thus in Eciton, there are working and soldier neuters, with jaws and instincts extraordinarily different: in Cryptocerus, the workers of one caste alone carry a wonderful sort of shield on their heads, the use of which is quite unknown: in the Mexican Myrmecocystus, the workers of one caste never leave the nest.

Smith has shown how surprisingly the neuters of several British ants differ from each other in size and sometimes in colour.

The neuters have their own separate society and customs that rarely agree with or impinge on those of the males, the breeding females, or the non-breeding females who act as neuters but are not—their state being a choice usually taken because they are too busy and interested in what they occupy themselves with to take time out for the debilitating process of producing eggs.

A special cadre of neuters, the elite among them, tend the brooding mothers, wash and wipe them, feed them, give them drink, treat them like mindless infants for the six months the brooding lasts.

A number of the small black neuters came rushing in, helped her shift her legs, moved her worktable out of the way, brought cushions to tuck around her until they were satisfied she was settled properly, then they vanished as quickly as they'd arrived.

She snapped her grippers and a dozen neuters trotted up, sank flat to the grass in front of her.

The small black neuters fussing about them, the six youths went bouncing out of the garden.

She hauled herself out of the water and stood dripping while a cadre of neuters bustled about her, washing, wiping, polishing.

Wanasi left her standing among the neuters while she went to speak quietly to the High Mother.

The neuters fluttered off, collecting the sheet, clearing away the bottles and plates, diving into bushes, weaving about the High Mother's private garden, making sure it was clear of sleepers, listeners, any one or thing that might disturb the privacy of the conference getting set up.

A pair of neuters came in with a steaming teapot and trays of small sandwiches, strips of cheese, and small tart fruits.

Soon he would be cast off entirely, and the neuters would have the sadistic pleasure of ignoring him while he starved to death.

She has been very lonely for a year, though we permit her a reasonable retinue of her neuters, hatched from the few remaining eggs she has in storage.

The contest was brief and inconclusive, as their neuters called them off and guided them to different cubes.

Goat reminded her eerily of Cat, until she realized why: both were neuters, and the intelligent leaders of their trios.