insectessociaux Commentaries, thoughts and opinions about social insects

New interview with a social insect scientist! 🎙

Stefano Stefano has discovered a hidden layer of complexity in a familiar world... 🐜

insectessociaux.com/2025/11/14/i...

#SocialInsects #Interview #AnimalBehavior #SocialInsects #BehavioralEcology #Plasticity #AntResearch #InsectScience

Worker Survival and Egg Production—But Not Transcriptional Activity—Respond to Queen Number in the Highly Polygynous, Invasive Ant Tapinoma magnum In social animals, reproductive activity and ageing are influenced by group composition. In monogynous (single-queen) insect societies, queen presence affects worker fecundity and longevity, but less...

📣 Exciting news! A new paper highlights the work of IRBI researchers on the invasive ant Tapinoma magnum.

Project led by S. Foitzik (Univ Mainz), with contributions from R. Libbrecht, CR CNRS at IRBI. #AntResearch #InsectBiology #IRBI

More info 👇
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New reasearch article! 📰

Rahman & @sarahbengston.bsky.social found that under stress, "fast" colonies had more robust workers in T. rugatulus, challenging traditional Pace-of-Life Syndrome predictions. 🐜
doi.org/10.1007/s000...

#InsectesSociaux #SocialInsects #BehavioralEcology #AntResearch

New short communication!📄

Satizabal‑Niemeyer, @abelbernadou.bsky.social et al. showed that urban structures are poor substitutes for natural habitats and unlikely to maintain gene flow 🌆
doi.org/10.1007/s000...

#InsectesSociaux #SocialInsects #AntResearch #UrbanEcology #Nest #Fragmentation

Wax on the body surface of #ants can simultaneously optimize two essential requirements: protection against desiccation and exchange of communication signals www.uni-mainz.de/presse/aktuell/15921_ENG... #LasiusNiger #EvolutionaryBiology #AntResearch #biology...