Our article on wingless virgin queens that defend their colonies received quite some attention by the media, in particular in Germany. Among the english language websites that covered the story were The New Scientist and Science Daily: The New Scientist: Spinster queens become commoners Science Daily:Princesses Become Warriors: Young Queens of Leafcutter Ants Change Roles
Latest Posts
New paper: Wingless virgin queens defend leaf-cutting ant colonies
I have a new paper published on nest-defence in Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants. We found that young virgin queens switch to worker behaviour once they lose the prospect of founding their own colony. Normally, virgin queens avoid taking risks because they are supposed to partake in a mating flight and found a new “daughter” colony afterwards.
Amazon-like female warriors protect societies of farming antsAmeisenamazonen: Kriegerische Prinzessinnen beschützen Blattschneiderameisen
Large societies of ants and humans have standing armies with professional soldiers, but smaller societies usually rely on conscription when they are threatened. Leaf-cutting ant societies of intermediate size have evolved the peculiar practice of turning daughter queens that failed to mate and disperse into life time nest-defenders, reminiscent of mythical female warriors whose normal
GfÖ Annual MeetingJahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Ökologie
My next conference will be in Lüneburg: It’s the 42nd “Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland”, from 10 to 14 September 2012. Looking forward to seeing you there! I will present work on myrmecophilous cockroaches that live in leaf-cutter ant colonie, in a Chemical Ecology symposium on Thursday.Dieses Jahr werde
Social insect sisters smell alike(Englisch) Social insect sisters smell alike
This press release is also available in Danish (på Dansk). In social insect colonies, workers generally cooperate within extended families consisting of full- and half-sisters. It has been suggested that they do not behave nepotistically, i.e. prefer to cooperate with full-sisters only, because they are not able to distinguish between half- and full sisters Actually,
(Danish) Søstre dufter ens(Dänisch) Søstre dufter ens
Danish press release, also available in English. Hos sociale insekter, blandt andet hos myrer, har man hidtil antaget, at alle individer i en koloni samarbejder lige godt. Forskere på Københavns universitet og kolleger i Frankrig og Storbritannien har nu vist, at nepotisme måske også dyrkes blandt sociale insekter. Den harmoniske samfundsstruktur hos sociale insekter står
Forbes: Friends And Foes, At Home and Off-Shore
Commentary by Lionel Tiger on off-shore tax evasion, suggesting to use ants as an ideal and referring to Guerrieri et. al 2009, in Forbes. Lionel Tiger kommentiert in Forbes Steuerflucht und nennt Ameisen als Idealbeispiel, mit Hinweis auf Guerrieri et. al 2009.
Friend or foe? Just follow your nose!
Another bit on Guerrieri et al. 2009Ein weiterer Artikel über Guerrieri et al. 2009
Berlinske Tidene: Kend fjenden på duften
Article on the up-resent model in a Danish newspaper, with a nice cartoon:Artikel in einer Dänischen Zeitung über das U-Present-Modell, mit einem netten Cartoon:
(Danish) Duften afgør om du er ven eller fjende(Dänisch) Duften afgør om du er ven eller fjende
Myrer er ikke i tvivl: Hvem skal lukkes ind, og hvem skal ikke? Har du den forkerte duft kan det betyde en kamp på liv og død, mens myrer med samme duft lukkes ind i myretuens beskyttende fællesskab, viser ny forskning fra Biologisk Institut ved København Universitet. See the entire press release (in Danish!) on