Queen's genes determine sex of entire ant colonies
Researchers have discovered the genetic basis for a quirk of the animal kingdom—how ant queens produce broods that are entirely male or female.
Researchers have discovered the genetic basis for a quirk of the animal kingdom—how ant queens produce broods that are entirely male or female.
Plants & Animals
Dec 14, 2021
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Ant colonies use fluids passed mouth-to-mouth to create a colony-wide metabolism, shows a study published in eLife.
Plants & Animals
Nov 23, 2021
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Millions of army ants occasionally stream out of their nest in a coordinated hunting swarm, seeking prey to devour. How this extraordinary mass raiding behavior evolved has long been a mystery, until now.
Plants & Animals
Aug 3, 2021
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The colonies of social insects are complex systems that are entirely self-organized. Scientists who looked at the demographic, genetic and morphological structure of ant colonies were able to show how this self-organization ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 18, 2021
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Army ants form some of the largest insect societies on the planet. They are quite famous in popular culture, most notably from a terrifying scene in Indiana Jones. But they are also ecologically important. They live in very ...
Plants & Animals
May 26, 2021
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A team of researchers has found that a western European ant lives much longer if it is infected with tapeworms. In their paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the group describes their study of the ants ...
With lockdown easing it is a dilemma many of us are facing: should we choose to go to the best place to eat out, or the nearest place that is good enough?
Plants & Animals
May 5, 2021
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The invasive ant world is a competitive one, rife with territorial battles and colony raids. And yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes), one of the world's worst invasive species, have an especially interesting trait: ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 21, 2021
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A team of researchers from the New York University School of Medicine and Arizona State University has found that a certain ant species is unique in that worker ants can increase and shrink their brain size when needed. In ...
In one species of ants, workers duel to establish new leadership after the death of their queen. While these sparring matches stretch for more than a month, changes in behavior and gene expression in the first three days ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 18, 2021
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