Social Insect Research Group & Friends

04/25/2025

For Earth Month, Arizona State University did a piece on the Social Insect Research Group.

By Meghan Finnerty and Megan NeelyArizona State University has a lot of insects — and for good reason. A colony of researchers is studying how social insects can be used as tools to answer fundamental questions.

04/25/2025

The mighty, mighty insects of our Social Insect Research Group.

10/16/2018

Interview of ASU School of Life Sciences behavioral biologist Stephen Pratt in Knowable Magazine

Can we use the tools of psychology to understand how colonies of social insects make decisions?

07/27/2018

New cool research from Arizona State University researchers Christina Kwapich, Gabriele Valentini, and Bert Hoelldobler. In short:
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Researchers at Arizona State University discovered that ant colonies with a mix of large and small workers build better nests than colonies with only small or large workers. Mixed-size groups built longer nests, excavated more sand and produced more architecturally complex nests than single-size worker groups.
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Researchers represent ASU School of Life Sciences, School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU, and Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science.

Primary source:
"The non-additive effects of body size on nest architecture in a polymorphic ant"
by Kwapich, Valentini, and Hoelldobler
Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B (19 August 2008), 373(1753):20170235
http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0235

Abstract
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Like traditional organisms, eusocial insect societies express traits that are the target of natural selection. Variation at the colony level emerges from the combined attributes of thousands of workers and may yield characteristics not predicted from individual phenotypes. By manipulating the ratios of worker types, the basis of complex, colony-level traits can be reduced to the additive and non-additive interactions of their component parts. In this study, we investigated the independent and synergistic effects of body size on nest architecture in a seasonally polymorphic harvester ant, Veromessor pergandei. Using network analysis, we compared wax casts of nests, and found that mixed-size groups built longer nests, excavated more sand and produced greater architectural complexity than single-sized worker groups. The nests built by polymorphic groups were not only larger in absolute terms, but larger than expected based on the combined contributions of both size classes in isolation. In effect, the interactions of different worker types yielded a colony-level trait that was not predicted from the sum of its parts. In nature, V. pergandei colonies with fewer fathers produce smaller workers each summer, and produce more workers annually. Because body size is linked to multiple colony-level traits, our findings demonstrate how selection acting on one characteristic, like mating frequency, could also shape unrelated characteristics, like nest architecture.
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07/27/2018

New cool research from Arizona State University researchers Christina Kwapich, Gabriele Valentini, and Bert Hoelldobler. In short:
=====
Researchers at Arizona State University discovered that ant colonies with a mix of large and small workers build better nests than colonies with only small or large workers. Mixed-size groups built longer nests, excavated more sand and produced more architecturally complex nests than single-size worker groups.
=====

Researchers represent ASU School of Life Sciences and School of Earth and Space Exploration at ASU and Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science

Primary source:
"The non-additive effects of body size on nest architecture in a polymorphic ant"
by Kwapich, Valentini, and Hoelldobler
Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B (19 August 2008), 373(1753):20170235
http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0235

Abstract
=====
Like traditional organisms, eusocial insect societies express traits that are the target of natural selection. Variation at the colony level emerges from the combined attributes of thousands of workers and may yield characteristics not predicted from individual phenotypes. By manipulating the ratios of worker types, the basis of complex, colony-level traits can be reduced to the additive and non-additive interactions of their component parts. In this study, we investigated the independent and synergistic effects of body size on nest architecture in a seasonally polymorphic harvester ant, Veromessor pergandei. Using network analysis, we compared wax casts of nests, and found that mixed-size groups built longer nests, excavated more sand and produced greater architectural complexity than single-sized worker groups. The nests built by polymorphic groups were not only larger in absolute terms, but larger than expected based on the combined contributions of both size classes in isolation. In effect, the interactions of different worker types yielded a colony-level trait that was not predicted from the sum of its parts. In nature, V. pergandei colonies with fewer fathers produce smaller workers each summer, and produce more workers annually. Because body size is linked to multiple colony-level traits, our findings demonstrate how selection acting on one characteristic, like mating frequency, could also shape unrelated characteristics, like nest architecture.
=====

05/27/2018

SIRG finds its way to PBS.

Researchers are racing to make vaccines that will protect bees.

08/29/2017

With the Houston flooding, you have probably started seeing articles about the massive rafts of red imported fire ants (RIFA; Solenopsis invicta). However, few of these articles point out that workers of these ants actually inject *more venom than normal* when the ants are in these rafts, which is something SIRGer Kevin Haight discovered. So that's another reason to avoid contact with these rafts if you can.

Kevin's article on this phenomenon: http://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-005-0832-y

Nothing to see here...

07/22/2017

Nice to see Arizona State University publicizing work out of the Social Insect Research Group! Make sure to check out the video, where Christina goes over some basic natural history of these ants. There are photos explaining mark-and-recapture as well. Nice job, Christina Kwapich!

Imagine working for the harshest corporation in the world. Naturally, they want to maximize production and growth. This is done by investing in lots of low-wage employees. When production needs to be ramped up, more workers are brought on like holiday employees. When they get older, they’re sent out...

08/20/2016

This September 18th event may be of interest. It's organized by the University of Arizona, down in Tucson, and should be fun for the whole family.

03/01/2016

Just down the street!

The American Southwest is a hotspot for North American ant diversity, with over 350 species of ants known from Arizona, and a variety of ecologically interesting taxa – including leafcutters, harvester ants, army ants,

10/13/2015

From SIRG's own Bob Johnson -- A revision of South American /Pogonomyrmex/ species, including documentation of lots of alternative reproductive strategies! Seed harvesters are even more interesting in South America.