Aggression is context-dependent. Higher in spring, higher in groups, and strongly shaped by who the opponent is.
📄 open access: González-Lleida, Saureu & Oliveira (2026) doi.org/10.1007/s000...
#Myrmecology #Entomology #AntBehaviour #MediterraneanEcology #OpenAccess
A. senilis shows mostly submissive behaviour, possibly a smart conflict-avoidance strategy given the risks of engaging with T. darioi.
M. barbarus is the most aggressive species, especially toward conspecifics. Minor workers are fiercer than majors.
We see that T. darioi quietly takes over without being particularly aggressive 🤔
It uses a classic "back-seat driver" strategy. Low overt aggression in lab assays, but high nest density and supercoloniality lead to gradual displacement of A. senilis nests over winter and spring.
We monitored 106 ant colonies over 6 months on the UAB campus to ask how three dominant Mediterranean ant species Aphaenogaster senilis, Messor barbarus and Tapinoma darioi coexist in an urban grassland.
🐜 New paper out in Insectes Sociaux led by my student @pgonzalezlleida.bsky.social!
10/10 Colony stability depends on this balance. 🏛️ We show that endocrine processes and worker behaviour are deeply intertwined in the evolutionary conflicts structuring insect societies.
Full paper (Open Access) 👇 doi.org/10.1007/s00265-026-03720-w
9/10 Our results suggest maternal endocrine state can shape brood outcomes in ways workers must actively counteract — especially in supercolonies where workers may rear the offspring of completely unrelated queens.
8/10 So what's happening? Queens try to bias brood toward their own sexuals via JH signalling. Workers counter by detecting and cannibalizing excess reproductive larvae.
A true evolutionary arms race — playing out inside a single ant nest. 🔄
7/10 Crucially, workers only start culling larvae in the last instars.
This is the first time the precise developmental window for worker assessment of caste fate has been identified in this species. ⏱️
6/10 Key result #2: More queens in the colony = more larval cannibalization, regardless of brood quantity.
Larvae in 10-queen colonies were 4.3× more likely to be cannibalized than in single-queen colonies. Workers regulate the queen/worker ratio actively. 📈
5/10 Key result #1: Queens treated with methoprene (high JH) had significantly MORE larvae cannibalized by workers compared to the precocene group.
Workers can apparently detect that something is off — and act on it. 👀
4/10 We experimentally manipulated Juvenile Hormone (JH) signalling in queens:
➕ Methoprene → mimics high JH (more queen-destined brood)
➖ Precocene II → blocks JH synthesis (less queen-destined brood)
Then tracked brood production & worker cannibalization.
3/10 Our model system: Tapinoma darioi, a supercolonial Mediterranean ant with high polygyny and near-zero relatedness among nestmate queens.
A perfect arena for reproductive conflict to play out. 🐜🐜🐜
2/10 In ant colonies, queens and workers have conflicting evolutionary interests over how many larvae become new queens vs. workers.
In supercolonies with many unrelated queens, this conflict is especially intense — each queen "wants" more of her own sexuals reared. ⚔️
🧵 1/10 New paper out in Behav Ecol Sociobiol!
We investigated how ant queens use hormones to cheat their nestmates — and how workers fight back.
Saureu et al. 2026 @danisaureu.bsky.social
Early-season helping in Polistes wasps shows increasing returns - more helpers lead to convex gains in sexual productivity, resolving a key paradox in the origins of eusociality.
academic.oup.com/evlett/artic...
@ricaliari.bsky.social @twenseleers.bsky.social
I'm really happy that this paper is finally out. We combined experimental and theoretical data to study how helper behaviour may have facilitated the onset of eusociality. Check it out in the thread!! 🐝
Had an absolute blast sharing our research on juvenile hormone & caste fate conflict in the Argentine ant at this year's NW IUSSI @iussi-nwes.bsky.social
Always an amazing chance to talk science with some of the best minds in the field 🐜⚔️🐜
#IUSSI #IUSSI2024 #ants
📚🐝 Discover the new book on the bees of Portugal!
The book "Chaves Dicotómicas dos Genneros de Abelhas de Portugal" has been published by the UC Press.
Coordinated by Hugo Gaspar from the FLOWer Lab, you can download the book in here (in PT): monographs.uc.pt/iuc/catalog/...
#Ants hold a grudge – they remember who attacked them and fight back harder against those enemy colonies! Our new paper led by Melanie Bey is now published @currentbiology.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Hi, could you please add me to the list? Cheers!
Alright! Thanks!!
Amazing!! Same here! 😃
Looking good! Did you 3d-printed it? Would you mind sharing the file?
It knows too much!! 🤣
I asked ChatGPT to create a LEGO scene based on what it knows about me. Love the results! I wish my lab were this cool, though 🙃
🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️🙂
Hi, like a lot of people I'm new here! 🐝🐜
