Innovation in ant larval feeding facilitated queen-worker divergence and social complexity.

ABSTRACT: Building differences between genetically equivalent units is a fundamental challenge for all multicellular organisms and superorganisms. In ants, reproductive or worker fate is typically determined during the larval stage, through feeding regimes managed by adult caretakers. However, the feeding care provided to larvae varies significantly across ants, as does phenotypic divergence between queen and worker castes. Here, we employed comparative phylogenetic methods and causal inference to investigate the relationships between larval feeding care, caste size dimorphism, and social complexity across ant diversity. We digitized the life's work of George and Jeanette Wheeler, cataloging the larval morphology of over 700 species, and we compiled data on species diets and larval feeding behaviors

SUBMITTER: Matte A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11892636 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature