Ants shape their thoraces to match the tasks they perform
Tuesday, January 7, 2014 - 09:00
in Biology & Nature
It was now discovered that the specialization of queen and worker ants goes beyond the presence or absence of wings. In a study published in the open access scientific journal eLife, Roberto A. Keller and Patrícia Beldade from the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal), in collaboration with Christian Peeters from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (France), showed that ants grow the size of their thoracic segments differently according to the specialized tasks they will perform as adults. In particular, the researchers discovered that worker ants have a unique thoracic architecture that explains how they are able to hunt and carry preys many times their own weight.