4 documents found, page 1 of 1
Evidence for the evolution of eusociality in stem ants and a systematic revisio...
Boudinot, Brendon E; Richter, Adrian; Katzke, Julian; Chaul, Júlio C M; Keller, Roberto A; Economo, Evan P; Beutel, Rolf Georg; Yamamoto, ShûheiIt is generally assumed that Cretaceous stem ants were obligately eusocial, because of the presence of wingless adult females, yet the available evidence is ambiguous. Here, we report the syninclusion of a pupa and adult of a stem ant species from Mid-Cretaceous amber. As brood are immobile, the pupa was likely to have been transported by an adult. Therefore, the fossil substantiates the hypothesis that wingles...
The head anatomy of Protanilla lini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Leptanillinae), w...
Richter, Adrian; Garcia, Francisco Hita; Keller, Roberto A; Billen, Johan; Katzke, Julian; Boudinot, Brendon E.; Economo, Evan P.; Beutel, Rolf G.The hypogaeic ant subfamilies Leptanillinae and Martialinae likely form the sister group to the remainder of the extant Formicidae. In order to increase the knowledge of anatomy and functional morphology of these unusual and phylogenetically crucial ants, we document and describe in detail the cranium of a leptanilline, Protanilla lini Terayama, 2009. The mandibular articulation of the species differs greatly f...
The loss of flight in ant workers enabled an evolutionary redesign of the thora...
Peeters, Christian; Keller, Roberto A.; Khalife, Adam; Fischer, Georg; Katzke, Julian; Blanke, Alexander; Economo, Evan P.Background Explanations for the ecological dominance of ants generally focus on the benefits of division of labour and cooperation during foraging. However, the principal innovation of ants relative to their wasp ancestors was the evolution of a new phenotype: a wingless worker caste optimized for ground labour. Ant workers are famous for their ability to lift and carry heavy loads, but we know surprisingly lit...
The loss of flight in ant workers enabled an evolutionary redesign of the thora...
Peeters, Christian; Keller, Roberto A.; Khalife, Adam; Fischer, Georg; Katzke, Julian; Blanke, Alexander; Economo, Evan P.Background Explanations for the ecological dominance of ants generally focus on the benefits of division of labour and cooperation during foraging. However, the principal innovation of ants relative to their wasp ancestors was the evolution of a new phenotype: a wingless worker caste optimized for ground labour. Ant workers are famous for their ability to lift and carry heavy loads, but we know surprisingly lit...