eusocial insects

The molting fluid of ant pupae functions as “metabolic currency” in the ant colony and may have enabled the evolution of eusociality. 

Dampwood termites with the potential to leave the colony have larger optic lobes before ever being exposed to different visual environments, an example of predictive brain plasticity.

The transcription factor can also drive the opposite transition depending on which hormone activates it, according to a new study.

Social insects kill infected individuals for the benefit of the colony—and now a study has shown how they know who’s sick.

A molecular biologist ventures into entomology to use genetically modified ants as laboratory models of behavioral epigenetics.

Histone modifications to the DNA of Florida carpenter ants can turn soldiers into foragers.

Regulation of genome expression orchestrates the behavior of insect castes and the human response to social stress.

Meet some of the people featured in the January 2015 issue of The Scientist.

Researchers aim to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which a single genotype gives rise to diverse castes in eusocial organisms.