Two winged clonal raider ants stand out against a white background. About a decade ago, scientists observing clonal raider ants spotted something strange: Although the species is known to be queenless ...

A new genetics study of ant “social parasites” shows how complex sets of features can emerge rapidly and potentially split species. When the researcher Daniel Kronauer was still a postdoc in 2008, he ...

To thrive, ant colonies rely on everyone pulling their weight. For raider ants, this means diligent scouts track down other nests, then direct hundreds of savage foragers to attack. They return with ...

The findings offer a new way to understand how some ants become total layabouts. Ants are known as hard workers, tirelessly attending to their assigned tasks -- foraging for food, nurturing larvae, ...

Scientists have identified a mutant strain of clonal raider ants that look like miniature queens and evolved quickly because of a single "supergene" mutation. When you purchase through links on our ...

When the researcher Daniel Kronauer was still a postdoc in 2008, he traveled to Okinawa, Japan, for wild specimens of clonal raider ants (the species Ooceraea biroi). In the first colony he collected, ...

Scientists isolated a “supergene” that seems to transform raider ants into freeloaders with attributes similar to queens found in other species. By Rebecca Dzombak To thrive, ant colonies rely on ...