British and Belgian scientists say social sanctions, not voluntary altruism, stop workers in insect societies from reproducing.
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A bee's future as queen or worker may rest with parasitic fly
(PhysOrg.com) -- Strange things are happening in the lowland tropical forests of Panama and Costa Rica. A tiny parasitic fly is affecting the social behavior of a nocturnal bee, helping to determine which individuals become queens and which become workers.
Worker or queen? Harvester ant moms set daughters' fates
When it comes to deciding what harvester ant daughters will be when they grow up, mother queens hold considerable sway, according to a new study published online on February 14th in Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press. The researchers report evidence that eggs are predetermined to become workers or queens from the moment they are lain.
How drones find queens: Odorant receptor for queen pheromone identified
The mating ritual of the honey bee is a mysterious affair, occurring at dizzying heights in zones identifiable only to a queen and the horde of drones that court her. Now a research team led by the University of Illinois has identified an odorant receptor that allows male drones to find a queen in flight. The receptor, on the male antennae, can detect an available queen up to 60 meters away.
Wood ant queen has no egg-laying monopoly
The reproductive monopoly of the ant queen is not as strong as is often thought. Dr. Heikki Helanterä and Prof. Lotta Sundström, biologists working at the University of Helsinki, Finland, investigated worker ovary development and egg laying in nine Northern European wood ant species of the genus Formica, and revealed wide spread reproductive endeavours by workers.
Why do some queen bees eat their worker bee's eggs?
Worker bees, wasps, and ants are often considered neuter. But in many species they are females with ovaries, who although unable to mate, can lay unfertilized eggs which turn into males if reared. For some species, such as bumble bees, this is the source of many of the males in the species. But in others, like the honeybee, workers "police" each other – killing eggs laid by workers or confronting egg-laying workers.
Worker Ants Store Fat To Share With Colony Members During Times Of Need
In a fascinating new study from the September/October 2006 issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, Daniel A. Hahn (University of Florida) explores the ability of ants to store excess fat and pass it to colony members through lipid-rich oral secretions or unfertilized eggs.
U.S. union rates up substantially in 2008 for first time since 1970s, study shows
Buoyed by a rising tide in California in general and Southern California in particular, U.S. unionization levels rose substantially this year, defying a decades-long trend of decline, according to a report by UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
Bowling alone because the team got downsized
The pain of downsizing extends far beyond laid off workers and the people who depend on their paychecks, according to a new UCLA-University of Michigan, Ann Arbor study. Even a single involuntary displacement has a lasting impact on a worker's inclination to volunteer and participate in a whole range of social and community groups and organizations, found the study, which appears in the September issue of the international scholarly journal
Social Forces.