The conflict between social groups is widespread, often imposing significant costs across
multiple groups. The social insects make an ideal system for investigating inter-group …

Comprising a substantial part of living biomass on earth, ants are integral to the functioning
of terrestrial ecosystems. More than 12,000 species have been described to date, and it is …

With their unique colony structure, competition between ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
can be particularly intense, with colonies potentially willing to sacrifice large number of …

Chemical cues are arguably the most fundamental means of animal communication and
play an important role in mate choice and kin recognition. Consequently, there is growing …

The cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) of the ant Lasius niger are described. We observe a
high local colony specificity of the body cuticular profile as predicted for a monogynous and …

Confirmation bias is a tendency of people to interpret information in a way that confirms their
expectations. A long recognized phenomenon in human psychology, confirmation bias can …

Since their origin about 120 million years ago (Mya), ants have evolved to become the most
species-rich and ecologically diverse group of social insects (Grimaldi and Engel 2005; …

Changing climatic conditions are shaping how density mediates resource competition.
Colonies of the seed‐eating red harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, live for about 30 …

Nest-mate recognition plays a key role in the biology of ants. Although individuals coming
from a foreign nest are, in most cases, promptly rejected, the degree of aggressiveness …

Proper management of wild pollinators of agricultural crops requires identification of
effective pollinator species. Although non‐bee pollinators are gaining increasing attention …