The Daily Ant

@dailyant.bsky.social

A news outlet for the formicid-forward crowd. Publishing premier ant content at https://dailyant.com/! 🐜🐜🐜

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...

Consequences of “zombie-making” and generalist fungal pathogens on carpenter ant microbiota

The bacterial microbiome of the ant Camponotus floridanus has been well characterized across body regions and maturation levels. However, potential ef…

sciencedirect.com

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

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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

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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

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

Photograph of a large leggy black insect with coppery reflections on its finely-striate body, standing on a green leaf.