Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior at The Rockefeller University

Some behind the scenes footage from the lab. Mostly in German.

Das Ameisen-Labor an der Rockefeller University New York 🔬 Kriminal-Biologe Dr. Mark Benecke zu Gast im Ameisen-Labor von Prof. Daniel Kronauzer an der Rockefeller University in New York City (Manhattan) 🐜https://ww...

A long-legged Leptomyrmex ruficeps spider ant from the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, Australia. Beautiful colors. Beautiful ant.

If your K-8 kid is interested in science, microscopes, or ants, consider registering them for Science Saturday on May 8. presents microscopes at 11am EST and ants at 1pm with yours truly.

Science Saturday 2021 - Science Saturday Presented by the RockEDU Science Outreach Program Join us for a virtual Science Saturday SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT Using Microscopes to See What Our Eyes Can’t REGISTER 1:00 – 2:00 PM EDT The Miniature World of Ants REGISTER Each webinar will feature Rockefeller scienti.....

A timely article:

More Fun Than Fun: How Do Insect Societies Deal With Infectious Diseases? - The Wire Science Parasites are the scourge of insect societies – but insects have survived them well enough to become the most evolutionarily successful members of Earth's terrestrial fauna.

Doryline ants have colonized the Americas on two independent occasions. The first event gave rise to a speciose and ecologically highly successful clade that includes the New World army ants. The first picture shows one representative, a large worker of Labidus coecus.

The second event occurred much later, and resulted in a few inconspicuous species in the genus Syscia. The second image shows the queen of Syscia madrensis with two of her daughter workers from Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains.

Now it turns out that this genus is actually MUCH more diverse in the New World than previously thought. Based on extensive sampling in Central America, a new paper by and increases the number of known species from 3 to 57! Unbelievable really!

https://academic.oup.com/isd/article/5/2/ixab001/6157795

Go out and explore folks - there is still so much out there we don’t know. The two photos are from Chapter 2 (Army Ant Ancestry) of my Army Ants book:

amzn.com/067424155X

Thanks to for sharing his Syscia madrensis colony with us.

The workers of some army ant species vary dramatically in shape, size, color, and even behavior. Here is the full range of the Eciton hamatum worker caste - from large soldiers with hook-shaped mandibles (upper left) to the smallest workers that tend to the queen’s eggs (lower right). La Selva Biological Station 🇨🇷. From chapter 1 of “Army Ants”: amzn.com/067424155X

Jack Longino reviews "Army Ants" in Current Biology:

Army ants take the stage Daniel Kronauer sits on a folding stool in the dawn rainforest of La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. He is watching a pulsing mass of army ants, a ‘bivouac’, as the first rays of sunlight strike its surface. As he describes it, a shiver of activity spreads through the bivouac: the beast ...

Siafu snafu: Army ants are infamous social hunters that can overwhelm prey much bigger than the individual ant. Here, Dorylus molestus driver ants (aka “siafu” in Swahili) are butchering a large slug at Mount Kenya 🇰🇪. From Chapter 3 of the Army Ants book: amzn.com/067424155X

For Valentine’s Day, here are beauty and the sausage fly in action. The picture shows two ant size world record holders, the males (ca. 35mm) and queens (up to ca. 63mm) of African driver ants. Dorylus molestus at Mt. Kenya 🇰🇪. From Chapter 5 of the Army Ants book: amzn.com/067424155X