Latest zombie ant pub by former grad student Sophia Vermeulen who investigated if fungal infections affect ant gut microbiomes TLDR: zombie-making Ophio changes ant microbiome during host manipulation while the non-manipulating Beauveria fungus does not! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Link to the paper in question for those interested 🐜🌳 brill.com/view/journal... “Phylogenetic analysis and trait evolution of ant cocoons”

We thought we had posted this to our site before, but somehow never have! A Thanksgiving oversight, for sure... we've now rectified the situation, with a slightly longer clip than the one above: dailyant.com/2024/11/28/t...

We're thankful for ants. 🐜 #Thanksgiving #ants #thants youtu.be/9jtU9BbReQk?...

A closer look. The evolution of cocoon presence/absence in ants from my time in the @corriemoreau.bsky.social lab.

My fan phylogeny from my thesis now ready for the club

Pretty happy with this feeder. Ants seem to like it too.

Here a small introduction into what we do in our research group on the Evolution of Social Wound Care in Animals. Ever wondered why an ant would amputate the leg of their conspecific or how it knows when to apply antimicrobial secretions? Check out some of our key papers below! 🐜🏥🐜 1/4

Exciting news to add to the feed—my second dissertation chapter was recently published in Systematic Entomology! doi.org/10.1111/syen... 🐜

Are you feeling a little aimless? So are these ants. A brief article inspired by a post by Dr. Jane Waters (@lovetheants.bsky.social). 🐜🐜🐜⭕🐜🐜🐜 dailyant.com/2024/11/26/t...

My Google scholar word cloud! :)

Well, now we're hungry... 🥯🐜🧈

Would you trust an ant surgeon? 🐜🏥🤕 Neat study out this year by @etf1989.bsky.social and colleagues, in @currentbiology.bsky.social. #ants #antputation dailyant.com/2024/11/25/w...

The print sale is live, bug people.

Anyone able to confirm Colobostruma elliotti for these minuscule #ants I found today south of Sydney, #Australia? There are barely any photos of this group, they are so small and hard to photograph. #myrmecology #entomology #antsofaustralia #ant #macro #macrophotography

Myrmica schencki is a pretty cool species that somehow constructs these little tubes as nest entrances. Very typical, I know of no other native species that does this

Manica parasitica was thought to be a species of social parasite ant which lives by freeloading off its host ant species - Manica bradleyi. Turns out those "Manica parasitica" are just Manica bradleyi ants that have been infected with tapeworms #虫 #昆虫 🧪🐜 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

In case you wondered why Bluesky is good, I put in my profile that I am interested in people who are interested in ants and then I was followed by @dailyant.bsky.social aka, The Daily Ant.

Welcoming @joanieking.bsky.social @meganbarkdull.bsky.social @docteur-drey.bsky.social and @mischocarvalhus.bsky.social to our growing community of amazing ant scientists here on bsky! 🩵🐜🩷 go.bsky.app/zo95qR

#RamalhoLab and friends together for farewell to Isa and Gui! Isa is an amazing PhD student from #Brazil🇧🇷. She spent the last 6 months with us generating fantastic data on the cattle tick microbiome! Stay tuned! paper coming soon! We will miss you Isa! ❤️🫶 #ProudPI #Sandwich #Capes #WCU 💛🐏💜

Clonal raider ants finding their communities on bluesky 🩵🐜🩷

Leafcutter ant commuters on the leaf cutter highway. The ants use leaf fragments as fertilizer for a fungus they farm for food. Can you spot some smaller hitchhiker ants riding on leaves? They might help keep away parasitic phorid flies. Cuyabeno Reserve, Ecuador

Time to populate my feed with ants now. Saw these lanky and colorful trapjaws recently. Odontomachus hastatus OTS La Selva, Heredia, CR.

Odontomachus chelifer is the largest trap-jaw ant species in South America. These ants latch their mandibles open like a bear trap, distorting their heads to store up tremendous energy which is released on a literal hair trigger. Aragua, Venezuela. #ants #insects

Ever wonder: do ants sleep? In the latest student blog post, Diya writes about ants' sleeping habits -- and what college students have to learn from them! hmcbee.blogspot.com/2024/11/an-a... #ants @harveymudd.bsky.social

We do love to see it, each and every time!

We're back in business! For our post today, an 18th-century German philosopher would like a word about ants... 🐜🐜🐜 dailyant.com/2024/11/22/p...