These sea anemones eat ants
The giant plumose anemone is an animal, but it looks a bit like an underwater cauliflower. Its body consists of a stalk-like column that attaches to rocks and other surfaces on one end, and to a crown of tentacles on the other......»»
Social nature of ants provides protection from climate change
A new study by University of Liverpool has provided new insight into the impact of climate change on ant populations......»»
Scientists find new colony structure of fire ants evolved in one species before spreading to others
Scientists from Queen Mary University of London have discovered that a new form of ant society spread across species. They found that after the new form of society evolved in one species, a "social supergene" carrying the instruction-set for the new.....»»
A few simple rules determine how floating fire ant rafts change shape over time
Agent-based model describes how "treadmilling" behavior can spontaneously emerge Enlarge / Fire ants form a protrusion from an ant raft. (credit: Vernerey Research Group/CU Boulder) Fire ants are a textbook example of collecti.....»»
Study ID’s simple rules for how floating fire ant rafts change shape over time
Agent-based model describes how "treadmilling" behavior can spontaneously emerge Enlarge / Fire ants form a protrusion from an ant raft. (credit: Vernerey Research Group/CU Boulder) Fire ants are a textbook example of collecti.....»»
The physics of fire ant rafts could help engineers design swarming robots
Noah rode out his flood in an ark. Winnie-the-Pooh had an upside-down umbrella. Fire ants (Solenopsis invicta), meanwhile, form floating rafts made up of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of individual insects......»»
The insect brain: We froze ants and beetles to learn how they remember their way home
We humans are versatile and accomplished navigators, but insects might have navigation skills that are even better. For them, it's literally a matter of life and death—and that's why we decided to freeze some ants and beetles (don't worry, they sti.....»»
Australian sea anemone venom may lead to life-saving drugs
QUT Ph.D. researcher Lauren Ashwood has studied sea anemones' venom makeup extensively, in particular, Telmatactis stephensoni a reef-based sea anemone that can grow from 8 to 10 cm......»»
Accidental tree wound reveals novel symbiotic behavior by ants
One afternoon, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Panama, a bored teenager with a slingshot and a clay ball accidentally shot entry and exit holes in a Cecropia tree trunk. These are "ant-plant" trees, which famously cooperate with fie.....»»
Invasive ants can threaten ecosystems by damaging plants at the roots
Invasive ant species can be found in almost every ecosystem on earth, but the impact these invaders may have on plant health has only recently been investigated by scientists. A new study published in Journal of Ecology is the first of its kind to fi.....»»
Swapping spit helps ants share metabolic labour
Ant colonies use fluids passed mouth-to-mouth to create a colony-wide metabolism, shows a study published in eLife......»»
Hemipteran–ant mutualism could represent symbiotic invasion
Ants are among the most diverse and abundant insects on the planet. Both native and invasive ants are capable of forming mutualisms with hemipteran insects, preying on non-hemipteran herbivores and indirectly affecting primary production. To date, mo.....»»
Single molecule controls unusual ants" switch from worker to queen-like status
Depending on the outcome of social conflicts, ants of the species Harpegnathos saltator do something unusual: they can switch from a worker to a queen-like status known as gamergate. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Cell on November 4th have.....»»
When and why did human brains decrease in size 3,000 years ago? Ants may hold clues
The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. Now, a new study has brought us closer to understanding some of its evolution. It shows that human brains decreased in size approximately 3,000 years ago. By studying ants as models to illustrate.....»»
Method by which cells exchange vesicles to synchronize their activities.
Much like an ant colony or even people in an office, cells in the body must work together to accomplish their tasks. In all cases, this cooperation depends on communication. Ants do it by smell, people by sound, and, as shown in a new study by CiRA r.....»»
Scientists discover a host of reasons for the evolution of social parasites in ants
In a story that took the world by storm, a downtrodden yet cunning, lower-class family infiltrates a wealthier neighborhood's home. Then, all hell breaks loose......»»
Researchers translate insect defense chemicals into eerie sounds
Sawfly larvae protect themselves by secreting cocktails of unpleasant, volatile chemicals intended to repel predators, particularly ants. Researchers can assess the effectiveness of these defenses by staging meetups, so-called bioassays, between prey.....»»
Insidious coral killer invading Palmyra Atoll reef
The reefs at Palmyra Atoll, a small outlying atoll in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, have been undergoing a shift from stony corals to systems dominated by corallimorphs, marine invertebrates that share traits with both anemones and hard corals. A pub.....»»
Survey suggests climate change has reduced the presence of invasive Argentine ants
In 1993, Stanford University biology professor Deborah Gordon and her first graduate student, Katy Human, began a survey of ants at Stanford's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. Nearly 30 years, four more graduate students and scores of volunteers lat.....»»
When ant colonies get bigger, new foraging behavior emerges
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......»»
Bacteria from nematodes could be used to kill fire ants
Bacteria-infected nematodes may provide biological control of invasive European fire ants found in Maine, according to a University of Maine-led study......»»