We’ll see you at IUSSI! Mon 14:30: “What limits myrmeocphile abundance in ant nests?” EW, CK Tu 10:45: “The influence of diet on cuticular profiles and recognition in wild ant colonies” TM, CK Th 15:00: “Coordination of a rare task: Nightly door-closing behavior in harvester ants” CK, AD

@iussi-nas.bsky.social · last mo.

📢 Introducing @uissi-social.bsky.social, the Bluesky home of the XX International Congress of the IUSSI. The Congress runs 16–20 August 2026 in Freiburg, Germany, hosted by the University of Freiburg. Tag your posts, abstracts, and travel plans with #IUSSI26 so we can find each other.

The countdown is on! Just 10 days until IUSSI 2026. The congress will bring together researchers, students, and professionals from around the world to share the latest discoveries, foster collaborations, and celebrate advances in the biology of ants, bees, termites, wasps, and other social insects.

More of a field person? We have a work contract available on walnut dropping in carrion crows within the @wwtf.at funded project on "The interplay between cognition and ecology in extractive foraging behaviours". More info: barbaraklump.com Application deadline July 24th. Please share widely!

New paper! Bird nests (Wood Warblers) are hubs of invertebrate biodiversity on forest floor, hosting more species/individuals than leaf litter. Probably due to heat & food detritus. Losing Wood Warblers = ecological networks lost. #ornithology resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Bird nests support a diverse, dynamic and distinctive macroarthropod community on the forest floor

Nests built by vertebrates, such as birds and mammals, constitute diverse microhabitats that are inhabited by many arthropod taxa and represent important hubs of local biodiversity. Compared to leaf...

resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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

Queen-only parasitic parthogenetic ant. Cool combination! www.cell.com/current-biol...

A parasitic, parthenogenetic ant with only queens and without workers or males

Hamaguchi, Kinomura and colleagues describe an ant species that lacks workers and males and consists exclusively of queens.

cell.com

Interested in the ecosystem services provided by leaf-litter arthropod communities? Read all about it in the latest 'Value in nature' post: 'Hidden treasures'. #biodiversity #nature 🌐 mscaterino.pika.page/posts/hidden...

Hidden treasures - Leaf litter arthropods and the good that they do - Value in nature

I spend the majority of my research time looking at minute arthropods that live in soil and leaf litter. These species represent a large proportion of biodiversity, hundreds of thousands...

mscaterino.pika.page

Novel worker-like behavior observed in a socially parasitic ant. New from @pogonokwap.bsky.social & Francois Brassard: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🐜 4-year #postdoc position in the @socialfluids.bsky.social lab @camzoology.bsky.social investigating metabolic cooperation between bodies in a BBSRC-funded project. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc... #ants #socialtransfers #sociallytransferredmaterials #autophagy #socialinsects #aging #job (🧵1/n)

Join us at the University of Central Florida! 🍊🚀🌴 We’re seeking an Assistant Professor of Plant Physiology! We’ve got growth chambers, hoop houses, greenhouse space, an arboretum, and students chomping at the bit for more plant courses! #PlantPeopleFTW #IAmABotanist jobs.ucf.edu/jobs/assista...

Assistant Professor, Plant Physiology - Orlando, Florida, United States

The OpportunityThe Department of Biology at the University of Central Florida (UCF) invites applications for the position of tenure track Assistant Professor, Plant Physiology (9-month appointment), a...

jobs.ucf.edu

Using Bayesian neural networks and evolutionary modelling, we show that trophallaxis evolved twice in ants: 130 million years ago when flowering plants became more abundant and ants began harvesting sugary liquids from plants and their insect partners, and again in others ~90 million years ago.

New research article! 📰 Kwapich @pogonokwap.bsky.social et al. revealed that H. dorsalis larvae parasitize P. badius colonies by intercepting insect prey meant for ant larvae🪲 doi.org/10.1007/s000... #InsectesSociaux #SocialInsects #Kleptoparasitism #InsectBehavior #Myrmecology #BeetleLarvae #ants

My lab has a new paper in @insectessociaux.bsky.social. We found that alleculine beetle larvae consume most insect prey collected by Florida harvester ant workers, and occur in up to 63% of nests. 1/n

A couple of favorite An'ts from last weekend: Holcencyrtus nugget wasp, and a silly little mopey thrips (Phlaeothripidae). Carry on, tiny friends 🖤

I'm looking for a graduate student (master's level) to join my lab starting Fall 2025. If you know any undergraduates interested in termite behavior and evolution, please let them know!