![]() ![]() “It’s a new way of understanding how ants evolve to become socially parasitic.”ĭelving into the genetics of these unique ants could be a way to better understand the molecular mechanisms behind caste differentiation, or how an ant develops into a worker or a queen, which remain unknown. “This mutant is like the precursor to other parasitic species,” says Waring Trible, lead author of the study. As they report in Current Biology, they’ve discovered queen-like mutants-parasitic ants that spontaneously appeared in colonies of clonal raider ants, which are typically queenless. Now scientists in the Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior at The Rockefeller University, together with their collaborators at Harvard University, have a new theory. ![]() ![]() It’s long been thought that these determinedly lazy insects likely evolved their queenly characteristics one by one, through a series of mutations, in an isolated setting. To survive, parastic ants infiltrate a colony of closely related ants, where, as long as they keep their numbers relatively low, they and their offspring become the leisure class of the colony. Called workerless social parasites, these rare species exist only as queens, and they die without workers to tend to them. (Daniel Kronauer)Īnts are known as hard workers, tirelessly attending to their assigned tasks-foraging for food, nurturing larvae, digging tunnels, tidying the nest. Older workers are dark brown, while the lighter colored individuals are only a few days old. A mixed colony of clonal raider ants containing queen-like mutants that have rudimentary wings or wing stubs. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |