This reminds me of that game SimAnt by Maxis. It was released in 1991. The graphics were lesser as this game seems to be but it was released a good 9 years earlier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimAnt

SimAnt was awesome. The instruction manual was 10% the game, 90% info about ants.

I've just started this game and I thought it might be like SimAnt, but it seems more like a strategy game. I'd love to see simant on GOG, that's a great game.