A real-time feedback system stabilises the regulation of worker reproduction under various colony sizes.

Social insects demonstrate adaptive behaviour for a given colony size. Remarkably, most species do this even without visual information in a dark environment. However, how they achieve this is yet unknown.

Resilience of native ant community against invasion of exotic ants after anthropogenic disturbances of forest habitats.

The positive association between disturbances and biological invasions is a widely observed ecological pattern in the Anthropocene. Such patterns have been hypothesized to be driven by the superior competitive ability of invaders or by modified environments, as well as by the interaction of these factors. An experimental study that tests these hypotheses is usually less feasible, especially in protected nature areas.

Determination of the cost of worker reproduction via diminished life span in the ant Diacamma sp.

Workers of social Hymenoptera can usually produce male offspring, but rarely do so in the presence of a queen despite the potential individual fitness benefit. Various mechanisms have been hypothesized to regulate worker reproduction, including avoiding the colony-level cost of worker reproduction. However, firm quantitative evidence is lacking to support that hypothesis.

Small queens and big-headed workers in a monomorphic ponerine ant.

Evolution of caste is a central issue in the biology of social insects. Comparative studies on their morphology so far suggest the following three patterns: (1) a positive correlation between queen-worker size dimorphism and the divergence in reproductive ability between castes, (2) a negative correlation among workers between morphological diversity and reproductive ability, and (3) a positive correlation between queen-worker body shape difference and the diversity in worker morphology. We conducted morphological comparisons between castes in Pachycondyla luteipes, workers of which are monomorphic and lack their reproductive ability.

Molecular phylogeny among local populations of weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina.

The molecular phylogeny of 24 Oecophylla smaragdina populations and two O. longinoda populations was studied using 647 bp of the mitochondrial cyt b gene. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that O.