The insulin-like peptide (ILP) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signalling pathways play a
crucial role in the regulation of metabolism, growth and development, fecundity, stress …

Highlights•The IIS is the core pathway underlying caste determination.•The pathway can be
regulated by genes, nutrition, and other pathways.•Epigenetics mechanisms have been …

Social bees harbor a simple and specialized microbiota that is spatially organized into
different gut compartments. Recent results on the potential involvement of bee gut …

Life history theory seeks to explain the evolution of the major features of life cycles by
analyzing the ecological factors that shape age-specific schedules of growth, reproduction …

Queens and workers of eusocial Hymenoptera are considered homologous to the
reproductive and brood care phases of an ancestral subsocial life cycle. However, the …

Ants have evolved very complex societies and are key ecosystem members. Some ants,
such as the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, are also major pests. Here, we present a draft …

Leaf-cutter ants are one of the most important herbivorous insects in the Neotropics,
harvesting vast quantities of fresh leaf material. The ants use leaves to cultivate a fungus that …

Regardless of genetic makeup, a female honey bee becomes a queen or worker depending
on the food she receives as a larva. For decades, it has been known that nutrition and …

Insects, like all heterotrophic organisms, acquire from their food the nutrients that are
essential for anabolic processes that lead to growth (larval stages) or reproduction (adult …

Termites (Isoptera) are the phylogenetically oldest social insects, but in scientific research
they have always stood in the shadow of the social Hymenoptera. Both groups of social …