Caste- and sex-specific differential investment in brain regions of Australian ants.

Overview

1. School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

Abstract

Insect species have distinct lifestyles and behaviors, which require unique information processing requirements. Ants are unusual in that closely related individuals within a single species exhibit distinct lifestyles and locomotory strategies: workers are exclusively pedestrian and engage in foraging and colony maintenance tasks; alate males lead a life exclusively on the wing and are tasked with locating females; alate females exhibit both modes of locomotion and engage in mating, colony establishment and foraging. Here, we aim to identify within a single species the neural adaptations required for carrying out specific information processing tasks. We addressed this question by comparing volumes of functionally distinct brain regions in three castes of two Australian ants. We found that female castes had larger brains with pronounced mushroom bodies, supporting their broader behavioral repertoire and navigational tasks. Male ants had enlarged optic lobes and central complexes, highlighting the significance of vision and orientation in mate searching.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Data and code availability

Data reported in this paper are publicly available at https://tinyurl.com/ypbvbbh7 as of the date of publication.

Original code used in this paper is publicly available at https://tinyurl.com/ypbvbbh7 as of the date of publication.

Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 5 authors, 4 keywords, 1 funder, 57 references, 2 RRIDs.

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This paper

Ellendula, S., Sheehan, Z. B., Sayre, M. E., Ponton, F., & Narendra, A. (2026). Caste- and sex-specific differential investment in brain regions of Australian ants. iScience, 29(6), 116039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.116039

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