Between vineyards and desert: one termite, two species? 🏜️ A fieldwork story about South Africa’s southern harvester termite. @damsgergonne.bsky.social insectessociaux.wordpress.com/2026/05/19/b... #SocialInsects #Termites #Africa #Evolution

New research article! 📰 Azevedo et al. show that D. quadriceps workers prefer lighter prey and ignore volume changes when weight stays constant 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Foraging #AntBehaviour #PreySelection #IndividualForaging

Thanks to my co-authors Carmen Gil-Hoed and @temnothorax.bsky.social on this endeavor, and thanks to @insectessociaux.bsky.social for the recognition, check the highlight on Yellow crazy ants doing crazy cooperative transport! 🐜🎉 #cienciacriolla 🇨🇴 #ants

Highlight Article 💫 Who cares? Effect of foster parents on caste determination in a termite 🔬 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #SocialInsects #Termites #CasteDetermination #DevelopmentalPlasticity #InsectBehavior

Best paper announcement for 2025 🏆 The winner of Insectes Sociaux’s 2025 Best Paper Award is : “Well-coordinated cooperative transport in the invasive ant Anoplolepsis gracilipes” (Gil-Hoed et al. 2025). Luisa writes the following about their paper: doi.org/10.1007/s000...

Size matters: how different sized workers navigate the unknown 🐜 In this blog, Hyein explores how differently sized ant workers respond to unfamiliar environments ✍️ insectessociaux.wordpress.com/2026/05/11/s... #SocialInsects #AntBiology #BehaviouralEcology #Ants #SizeMatters

Check out my interview with Insectes Sociaux! This gave me a chance to reflect on my journey, my fascination with ants and the things that keep me going! ICYMI, link to my recent paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New interview with a social insect scientist! 🎙️ Chinmay (chjoshi.bsky.social) has spent years figuring out how ant colonies keep it together when everything goes wrong.... 🐜 insectessociaux.wordpress.com/2026/05/06/i... #SocialInsects #Ants #BehavioralEcology #FieldWork #ScienceLife

New research article! 📰 Lachaud and Pérez-Lachaud reports new ant–treehopper associations in Mexico, expanding what is known about trophobiotic partnerships 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Mutualism #Treehoppers #Honeydew #Ectatomma

New short communication! 📄 Harano shows that honeybee recruits leave the hive with more concentrated fuel than dancers, not just larger loads 🐝 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Honeybees #Foraging #Nectar #Recruitment

New short communication! 📄 T. Smith documents a slow, cooperative colony split, with parent bees supporting the new nest for months 🐝 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #StinglessBees #NestEstablishment #Eusociality #Pollination

New interview with a social insect scientist! 🎙 Thomas Parmentier (tparmentier.bsky.social) has found interesting interactions hiding right beneath our feet... 🐜 insectessociaux.wordpress.com/2026/04/27/i... #SocialInsects #Myrmecophiles #AntEcology #ChemicalEcology #Interview

New research article! 📰 Jo et al. shows that foragers' body size strongly influences aggregation in novel environments while exploration and inactivity remain largely size-independent 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Camponotus #AntForaging #Polymorphism #NoveltyResponse

Anastasi et al. show that citizen photos can reveal clear seasonal patterns and unexpected winter worker activity in invasive wasps 🐝 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Wasps #CitizenScience #Phenology #InvasiveSpecies

From leaf to ant nest and back again: the life and escape strategy of a parasitoid wasp In this blog, Yu outlines a parasitoid wasp's life cycle, its interactions with ants, and the questions raised. ✍️ insectessociaux.wordpress.com/2026/04/21/f... #SocialInsects #AntBiology #Ecology #Ants

New research article! 📰 Chiyoda et al. show that Camponotus yamaokai mates across much of the active season, with spring and autumn peaks 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Camponotus #IntranidalMating #ReproductiveSeasonality #AntBehaviour

New research article! 📰 Pramatarova et al. reveals that ant–psyllid trophobiosis is far more widespread and underreported than previously thought 🍯 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #AntTrophobiosis #Psyllids #HoneydewMutualism #InsectInteractions

New research article! 📰 Lima Vieira et al. show that prior success makes Pachycondyla striata workers more active, exploratory, and effective foragers 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Foraging #Experience #Ponerinae #BehaviouralEcology

The Queen’s Gambit: how polyandry gives trap-jaw ant queens a competitive edge In this blog, Henrique et al. from ecomol.bsky.social explains how they characterize the queen'scontribution to offspring in ants👑 insectessociaux.wordpress.com/2026/04/15/t... #socialinsects #entomology #competition

New research article! 📰 González-Lleida (pgonzalezlleida.bsky.social), danisaureu.bsky.social & ricaliari.bsky.social, demonstrates how seasonal shifts and opponent identity drive aggression levels 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Ant #BehaviouralPlasticity #Supercoloniality #Ecology

Paper alert 🚨🐜! Fire ant foraging looks remarkably robust until you perturb their communication. @dornhaus.bsky.social and I tested how fire ants respond to disruptions in pheromone trail communication during foraging. More in the thread below 🧵(1/6). link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Check out my latest paper! I have written a 🧵on this paper: bsky.app/profile/chjo...

New research article! 📰 Joshi (chjoshi.bsky.social) and Dornhaus (dornhaus.bsky.social) show that fire ants keep pursuing rich food even when their trail is interrupted 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #FireAnts #PheromoneTrails #ForagingBehaviour #Robustness

Fire bees and treehoppers: a newly discovered partnership 🌿 In this blog, Bruno Gomes describes the first recorded mutualistic interaction between a fire bee and a treehopper. insectessociaux.wordpress.com/2026/04/11/f... #SocialInsects #Entomology #Mutualism #Biodiversity #InsectEcology

New research article! 📰 Parmentier et al. show that a supposedly worker-specific fungus can also spread across Myrmica sexuals, larvae, and nest associates 🧫 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #FungalParasite #Myrmica #Myrmecophiles #HostRange

New research article! 📰 Miller, Cook (phdbee.bsky.social) et al. shows dopamine boosts tolerance between bee mothers and daughters 🐝 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #BiogenicAmines #CarpenterBees #SocialHierarchy #InsectNeurobiology

New short communication! 📰 Florindo et al. (ecomol.bsky.social) shows multiple mating boosts queen productivity in savanna trap-jaw ants 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Polyandry #ReproductiveSharing #ColonyStructure #QueenFitness

Research article! 📰 Wesener revisits a long-forgotten termite-associated millipede family and describes a new species from Malaysia 🪱 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Termites #Millipedes #Biodiversity #Taxonomy

New research article! 📰 Kosaka reveals the ecology of a nematode that sterilizes queen of 5 hornet species 🪱 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Nematode #HornetParasites #BiologicalControl #InsectEcology

New research article! 📰 Nonacs tracks how Argentine ants spread from a single nest into a multi‑nest network 🧩 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #InvasionBiology #CollectiveForaging #SpatialNetworks #BehaviouralEcology

New short communication! 📄 Gomes et al. document the first observation of O. banana fire bee workers tending treehopper A. reticulatum aggregations on Schinus molle🍯 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #NeotropicalEcology #HoneydewHarvesting #Meliponini

New research article! 📰 Bona et al. synthesised 26 years of work on ants and diaspores, showing how diaspore size and lipid content shape these interactions across a threatened biome 🌱 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #BiodiversityHotspots #Tropics #RestorationPlanning #CommunityEcology

We found that Rickia wasmannii, known from Myrmica workers, also infects queens, males, and larvae, with spillover to nest associates (incl. Lomechusa). doi.org/10.1007/s000... Complex dynamics in the ant microcosm --> more ant–fungus work coming @insectessociaux.bsky.social @dhaelewa.bsky.social

We found Rickia wasmannii, an ant-specific microfungus, on an ant nest-inhabiting rove beetle! Photo: André De Kesel. From our new paper in @insectessociaux.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1007/s000... #OpenAccess #TeamLaboul

The journal @insectessociaux.bsky.social is now PCI-friendly! 🎉 Curious about what this means for authors and the journal? Be sure to check out this great interview with @jmeunierearwig.bsky.social to find out more!

An interview for the journal Insectes Sociaux (@insectessociaux.bsky.social), which's now PCI friendly (@peercommunityin.bsky.social) ! Happy to promote open science wherever it is possible. insectessociaux.com/2026/03/10/i...

New interview! 🎙️ @jmeunierearwig.bsky.social explains the recent partnership between Insectes Sociaux and Peer Community In, which promotes transparency and supports open science. ✍️ insectessociaux.com/2026/03/10/i... #SocialInsects #OpenScience #PeerReview #Preprints #InsectScience

New research article! 📰 @filipegudin.bsky.social et al. show that flies in wasp nests are better interpreted as carrion‑feeding scavengers on dead brood than as true parasitoids of living larvae 🪰 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #TrophicWebs #NestEcology #Interactions #ForensicEntomology

New research article! 📰 Tschinkel reveals that the tiny ant P. adrianoi lines its multi‑chambered nests with sclerotia from pine ectomycorrhizal fungi, whose sprouting mycelium binds the surrounding sand 🍄 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #SoilEngineering #DesertAdaptations #Behaviour

New research article! 📰 Hisasue & Kitazawa present a complete life‑history description of this parasitoid wasp, from egg laying on leaves to larval development inside ant larvae over winter. 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #HiddenBiodiversity #SocialParasites #AntWaspInteractions #EvolutionaryEcology

Highlight Article 💫 When are hitchhikers useful and when are they a hinderance? 🍃 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #SocialInsects #LeafCuttingAnts #Entomology #AnimalBehaviour #FungusFarming

The surprising vulnerability of a termite’s secret roomate 🪲 In this blog, Igor explores the lives of termite-associated beetles and reveals how forest edges can affect insect societies. 🔗 insectessociaux.com/2026/01/28/t... #SocialInsects #Biodiversity #InsectEcology #Symbiosis #Entomology

New research article! 📰 Siqueira-Rocha et al. show, among other things, that termite-loving beetles living in Constrictotermes cyphergaster termite nests are less abundant near forest edges. 🌳 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Crypticdiversity #TropicalForest #Symbiose #LandscapeEcology

New short communication! 📄 Raime & Pereira sequenced the mitochondrial COI–COII region of 156 honey bees and show that Estonia’s honey bee population is now dominated by commercial subspecies 🐝 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #ApisMellifera #GeneticDiversity #BeeConservation

New short communication article! 📄 Teixeira et al. mined Illumina genomes to show that A. octospinosus and its parasite share nine satellite DNA families with lineage-specific amplification–degeneration patterns 📊 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Acromyrmex #Genomics #SocialParasitism

New short communication! 📄 Chan et al. used a Y-maze olfactory conditioning assay to show that yellow crazy ants learn odor–reward associations much more efficiently at warmer temperatures 🔥 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SoicalInsects #InvasiveAnt #AssociativeLearning #Behavior

New short communication! 📄 Rahman et al. combining field surveys, morphology, and barcoding to document the first record of the termite family Stylotermitidae in Pakistan 🌳 ​🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Termites #Stylotermitidae #DNAbarcoding #ForestBiodiversity #Biogeography

New research article! 📰 Kitade et al. experimentally mixed offspring from R. speratus colonies and showed that simple colony fusion accelerates early colony growth in termites 🌱 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #Termites #Fusion #GeneticDiversity #Colony #Reticulitermes #Eusociality

Hovering battles at the ant nest: the remarkable behavior of a rare ant parasitoid wasp ⚔️ In this blog, Satsuki shares her discovery of fights between female wasps competing for access to ant larvae. insectessociaux.com/2025/12/27/h... #InsectesSociaux #Entomology #ParasitoidWasps #AnimalBehavior

New research article! 📰 Kajiwara and Yamauchi observed O. cremieri wasps hovering near Lasius capitatus ant nests, documenting female pushing competition over ant larvae 🐜 🔗 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #SocialInsects #EvolutionaryInteractions #Competition #Hybrizontinae #LasiusCapitatus #Parasitoid​