system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What happens to lost ants?

I was in my car the other day and noticed numerous ants had jumped in for a free ride. It got me wondering if one and or a small group of ants got in my car near their colonies nest and then exited my car ~30km away what would happen to them?
gpt
If a worker ant gets separated from its colony, it's doomed. No other colony will take it in, and it can't start its own colony--only queens can do that. It might be able to live for a while, but generally not that long--a lost worker is generally more concerned with hunting for its colony than with feeding itself, and its energy reserves are fairly small (depending on the ant species--some have workers that are adapted to taking long foraging trips). A few ant species, however, have "supercolonies," where neighboring colonies are established by queens directly related to one another. When queens are close relatives, their workers tend to have similar chemical profiles, meaning they can move from colony to colony without triggering the usual colony defenses against intruders. (Intruders are recognized by their chemical profile--their odor--and not by appearance, ID card, etc.) In such cases, workers routinely transfer between colonies, so a worker may end up working for its grandmother or, forgive me, its aunt. 

tldr; If a worker ant gets separated from its colony and can't find its way back it is doomed.