Concept
Solenopsis invicta
Publications associées (11)
Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency
Mahmut Selman Sakar, Laurent Keller, Fazil Emre Uslu
Division of labour is widely thought to increase the task efficiency of eusocial insects. Workers can switch their task to compensate for sudden changes in demand, providing flexible task allocation. In combination with automated tracking technology, we de ...
2024Multiple nest entrances alter foraging and information transfer in ants
The ecological success of ants relies on their ability to discover and collectively exploit available resources. In this process, the nest entrances are key locations at which foragers transfer food and information about the surrounding environment. We ass ...
ROYAL SOC2020Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect
Alessandro Crespi, Laurent Keller
Animal social networks are shaped by multiple selection pressures, including the need to ensure efficient communication and functioning while simultaneously limiting disease transmission. Social animals could potentially further reduce epidemic risk by alt ...
2018Oral transfer of chemical cues, growth proteins and hormones in social insects
Laure Menin, Oksana Riba Grognuz, Laurent Keller
Social insects frequently engage in oral fluid exchange trophallaxis between adults, and between adults and larvae. Although trophallaxis is widely considered a food-sharing mechanism, we hypothesized that endogenous components of this fluid might underlie ...
Elife Sciences Publications Ltd2016Effects of ploidy and sex-locus genotype on gene expression patterns in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta
Chitsanu Khurewathanakul, Oksana Riba Grognuz, Laurent Keller
Males in many animal species differ greatly from females in morphology, physiology and behaviour. Ants, bees and wasps have a haplodiploid mechanism of sex determination whereby unfertilized eggs become males while fertilized eggs become females. However, ...
Royal Soc2014