Colony (biology)
A colony in biology refers to a life-style or habit where members of the same species live together.
Usually the members of a colony are genetically linked by common heredity. Sometimes, as in bryozoa, they are genetically identical clones, sometimes as in eusociality, they are members of an extended family. Sometimes, as with the Portuguese Man o' War, the members of the colony are joined together as one individual, which operates as a single unit.
Most of the colonies in the groups listed below build a common structure or nest. Sometimes they are linked only by their behaviour. The close integration of termites, ants, bees and wasps is called eusocial.
The term applies mostly to animals, though there are some protists and prokaryotes which live as colonies.
Groups with colonial species
Colony (biology) Media
A colony of Brandt's cormorants in Point Lobos, California
Apis florea colony, Thailand. The nest is 20 cm in diameter and contains approximately 3600 cells on each side. The curtain of bees covering the comb with the queen is 3–4 bees thick (~10 mm).
The pelagic Marrus orthocanna is a colonial siphonophore assembled from two types of zooids
Clonal micro colonies of the fungus Candida albicans on an agar plate