Honeypot ants, also called honey ants or repletes, are ant

Ant

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...

s which are gorged with food

Food

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

 by workers, to the point that their abdomen

Abdomen

In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

s swell enormously, a condition called plerergate

Plerergate

A plerergate is a polymorph of an ant, also known as a replete or rotund, characterized by an enlarged abdominal area for the purpose of food storage. This occurs in honey ants....

. Other ants then extract nourishment from them. They function essentially as living larder

Larder

A larder is a cool area for storing food prior to use.Larders were commonplace in houses before the widespread use of the refrigerator.Essential qualities of a larder are that it should be:*as cool as possible*close to food preparation areas...

s. Honeypot ants belong to any of five genera, including Myrmecocystus

Myrmecocystus

Myrmecocystus is a North American genus of ants. It is one of five genera that includes honeypot ants. Worker ants keep and tend plerergates, which are other ants that store large quantities of nutritious fluid in their abdomens to feed the colony during famine times...

. They were first discovered in 1881 by Henry C. McCook

Henry Christopher McCook

Henry Christopher McCook was an American Presbyterian clergyman, naturalist, and prolific author on religion, history, and nature. He was a member of the celebrated Fighting McCooks, a family of Ohio military officers and volunteers during the American Civil War.-Biography:McCook was born in New...

.

Many insects, notably honey bees and some wasps, collect and store liquid for use at a later date.