New Research Deepens Mystery About Evolution of Bees’ Social Behavior
A new study has mounted perhaps the most intricate, detailed look ever at the diversity in structure and form of bees, offering new insights in a long-standing debate over how complex social behaviors arose in certain branches of bees' evolutionary tree. The report offers strong evidence that complex social behavior developed just once in pollen-carrying bees, rather than twice or more, separately, in different evolutionary branches—but researchers say the case is far from closed.
Little Organisms, Big World: Insect Gut Bacteria Partnerships
A recent review in the open-access Journal of Insect Science shines a light on the diversity of host-symbiont relationships among holometabolous insects.
Digging Deep: The Secrets Within Termite Nests
A researcher studying termites' digging techniques says that understanding individual roles in collective activities can shine a light on the evolution of such behavior and how social insects perform simple tasks to ultimately construct complex structures.
These Caterpillars Go Bananas for Fruity Smells—and So Do Their Offspring
Researchers find that the butterfly species Bicyclus anynana passes down a preference for leaves that smell like banana to its next generation—another curious example of inheritance of a learned trait.