New imaging and biomechanical approaches have heralded a renaissance in our
understanding of crocodylian anatomy. Here, we review a series of approaches in the …

The fossil record allows a unique glimpse into the evolutionary history of organisms living on
Earth today. We discovered a specimen of the stem group ant† Gerontoformica gracilis …

Understanding the link between ecology and morphology is a fundamental goal in biology.
Ants are diverse terrestrial organisms, known to exhibit ecologically driven morphological …

The extraordinary success of social insects is partially based on division of labour, ie
individuals exclusively or preferentially perform specific tasks. Task preference may …

Insects evolved various modifications to their mouthparts, allowing for a broad exploration of
feeding modes. In ants, workers perform non-reproductive tasks like excavation, food …

An organism's morphology plays a crucial role in its interactions with its environment.
Therefore, comparative anatomical analysis is a critical basis to understanding the ecology …

The mesosoma is the power core of the ant, containing critical structural and muscular
elements for the movement of the head, legs, and metasoma. It has been hypothesized that …

Despite the ecological significance of ants and the intensive research attention they have
received, thorough treatments of the anatomy and functional morphology are still scarce. In …

Brain evolution is hypothesized to be driven by behavioral selection on neuroarchitecture.
We developed a novel metric of relative neuroanatomical investments involved in …

Recent studies of insect anatomy evince a trend towards a comprehensive and integrative
investigation of individual traits and their evolutionary relationships. The abdomen of ants …