Rockefeller scientists, including @danielkronauer.bsky.social, Vanessa Ruta, Winrich Freiwald, Priya Rajasethupathy, and @erichjarvis.bsky.social, are learning what drives social behavior, and also trying to explain what happens when those roots falter.
🔗: https://bit.ly/47J2Q5h
Ooceraea biroi - Copyright Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena have identified the first brood pheromone in ants—thereby proving that larvae actively influence the colony’s reproduction....
weiterlesen
The beautiful dewlap displays of anoles serve to defend territories and to attract mates. Here is a lady Dominican anole (Anolis oculatus) admiring her suitor’s efforts at Indian River 🇩🇲. Who wouldn’t melt away at the sight of that flashy wattle?!
Around the year 2000, Anolis cristatellus, a buff species from Puerto Rico, was introduced. The newcomer has since displaced the native species locally, suggesting that it might ultimately lead to the decline of A. oculatus across large swaths of the island (doi:10.1163/157075407780681365). 3/3
Anolis oculatus, which can be identified by a white spot on top and in the middle of the head (shown here), occurs nowhere else in the world. For the longest time, A. oculatus was the only anole on Dominica. Unfortunately, island endemics are often threatened by invasive species. 2/3
A tale of two lizards 🦎🦎
Anole lizards are incredibly diverse, particularly in the Caribbean, where many islands harbor their own endemic species. For example, Dominica is home to Anolis oculatus, the Dominican anole. 1/3
Nasute soldiers (soldiers with a long schnoz from which they can spray defensive compounds) guarding a foraging trail of the termite Longipeditermes longipes at Sepilok, Sabah.
Dolichoderus affinis ants tending membracids for honeydew. Tambunan, Sabah.
A family of curious hyraxes at Mpala Research Centre in Kenya. While these guys superficially resemble marmots, they are actually more closely related to elephants, believe it or not.
I guess dik-diks are indeed among the smallest antelopes. The bird is normal. 🤓
The birds peck at their hosts, removing dead skin and parasites like ticks. However, they also feed on blood from open wounds and slow down wound healing. So for the mammals, these birds are a bit of a double-edged sword. 3/3
Greater blue-eared starlings are omnivores that eat insects and fruit. However, they also opportunistically perch on mammals, similar to the famous oxpeckers that you frequently see riding on hippos, buffalos, and other large African animals. 2/3
This greater blue-eared starling was annoying the heck out of a Günther’s dik-dik at Mpala Research Centre in Kenya. For a solid fifteen minutes, the impudent bird just wouldn’t leave the poor thing graze in peace. 1/3
A study from Rockefeller's @danielkronauer.bsky.social in @currentbiology.bsky.social finds that ants continually update their sense of nestmate identity and tolerance for outsiders, a discovery that opens the door to studying the neural circuits behind social recognition.
🔗:https://bit.ly/4sukQIR
Phigalia moths are harbingers of spring, ringing in a reawakening of insect life in New York each year. Needless to say that this scene in Woodstock last weekend lifted my spirits considerably. Btw, these are male moths - the Phigalia females have greatly reduced wings and cannot fly.
Springtails use aggregation pheromones to find each other. Because they are too small to break the water surface tension, their mutual attraction can result in large black floats. Woodstock, NY.
What looks like an oil spill on a roadside puddle is in fact a gathering of thousands of springtails (Collembola). Video below…
Spearheaded by postdoc Tiphaine Bailly, with help from Matteo Rossi and Stephany Valdés Rodríguez, along with our chemical ecology collaborators Thomas Schmitt and etf1989.bsky.social at the University of Würzburg.
Ants are experts at telling nestmates from foreigners via subtle differences in odor profiles. In this new paper, we explore the conditions under which ants develop and maintain tolerance to foreigners. Turns out the ant recognition system is surprisingly plastic.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
In the tropics, “pioneer” trees (fast-growing species you see e.g. along the road side) are often “myrmecophytes”, housing ants that defend the tree against herbivores. Here is a sliced Macaranga stem, revealing a founding association of Crematogaster queens with their offspring. Sepilok, Sabah.
With about 100 species, the spiny ants of the genus Polyrhachis form the most diverse group of ants on Borneo. Here are two beautiful examples, the golden P. bihamata (look at those fishing hooks!) and the especially armed P. armata. Danum Valley, Sabah.
Removing the cover reveals the ants’ brood, in this case several pupae. There were no queens in this nest, and I assume it was a satellite nest of a larger colony.
Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo
It’s the abode of spiny ants (Polyrhachis mucronata or related species). These ants build their nests by combining silk from their larvae with plant debris.
What’s this piece of art on the underside of a leaf you may ask?
I talked with Warren Cornwall about this work for Science: www.science.org/content/arti...
And here’s more coverage in the NYT, including some beautiful animations: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/s...
Thanks to micro-CT and www.antscan.info, you can now explore high resolution, 3D ant images from anywhere in the world. Fantastic work from Julian Katzke, Francisco Hita Garcia, @economo.bsky.social, Thomas van de Kamp and colleagues just dropped: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
But it doesn’t have the cute sawfly larva eyes, which threw me off…
I don’t. First I thought sawfly, but somehow doesn’t look right. Any suggestions?
While photographing the zombie ants at Danum Valley, I noticed this funky larva chomping on and ultimately devouring the entire fungus stalk growing out of the ant’s head. I knew that Ophiocordyceps fungi have been used in traditional medicine for centuries. Turns out other animals consume them too.
Amazing photo! 🤓🐜🪲
