Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior

The paper studies whether ants make optimal decisions when removing obstacles from their tunnels, finding that individuals act optimally but colonies show suboptimal behavior due to task sequencing.

The paper shows that a keystone ant competitor increases local species richness near its presence and decreases it with distance in coffee habitats.

The paper shows the blood-brain barrier regulates social behavior in ants by controlling hormone levels via a key enzyme, with implications for conserved mechanisms across species.

This study quantifies visual trait diversity in bumblebees, finding that ecological factors like social parasitism and habitat drive eye diversification rather than phylogenetic relationships.

The paper confirms parthenogenesis in Ceratina dallatoreana through genetic analysis showing offspring are clones of mothers with no males detected.

The paper compares behavioural maturation and hormonal/molecular changes in two honey bee species, finding similar mechanisms but differences in the pace of maturation.

The paper combines barcode tracking with convolutional neural networks to monitor honeybee behavior and identify distinct social networks in food exchange.

The paper maps chemical modifications in an ant fungus garden as plant material passes through, revealing its role in nutrient uptake.

The paper shows that temperature fluctuations predict allele frequency changes in male hybrids of Formica ants, but not females, suggesting sex-specific effects of hybridization on genetic variability.

This study shows that the Doublesex gene regulates reproductive division of labor in honey bees by controlling ovary development and pheromonal signaling.

This study examines the eye structure, daily activity, and foraging behavior of Oecophylla smaragdina, finding that foraging occurs in full light, the eye is adapted for diurnal activity, and daily activity correlates with temperature.

The paper presents high-quality genome assemblies for two ant species, enabling the identification of caste-specific long non-coding RNAs and differential gene expression.