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1. A remarkable troglomorphic ant,

   https://doi.org/10.1071/IS22035  

   Griebenow, Zachary Hayes; Isaia, Marco; Moradmand, Majid (January 2022, Invertebrate Systematics)

   Sharma, Prashant (Ed.)

   The ant subfamily Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) consists of minute soil-dwelling species, with several genera within this clade being based solely upon males, including Yavnella Kugler. The dissociation of males and workers has resulted in taxonomic confusion for the Leptanillinae. We here describe the worker caste of Yavnella, facilitated by maximum-likelihood and Bayesian inference from 473 partitioned ultra-conserved element loci, this dataset including 49 other leptanilline species, both described and undescribed. Yavnella laventa sp. nov. is described from seven worker specimens collected in south-western Iran from the Milieu Souterrain Superficiel, a subterranean microhabitat consisting of air-filled cavities among rock and soil fragments, which is subject to similar environmental conditions as caves. This species has bizarrely elongated appendages, which suggests that it is confined to cavities, in contrast with the soil-dwelling behaviour observed in other leptanilline ants. Based on its gracile phenotype relative to other Leptanillinae, Y. laventa shows remarkable adaptations for subterranean life, making it one of a very few examples of this syndrome among the ants. Moreover, the discovery of the worker caste of Yavnella expands our morphological knowledge of the leptanilline ants. We provide worker- and male-based diagnoses of Yavnella, along with a key to the genera of the Leptanillinae for which workers are known. The worker caste of Yavnella as known from this species is immediately recognisable, but the possibility must be noted that described workers of Leptanilla may in fact belong to Yavnella. Further molecular sampling is required to test this hypothesis. ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:A54A5766-F35A-4074-9353-1C70FE3955D3 

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2. Pervasive and persistent effects of ant invasion and fragmentation on native ant assemblages

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3257  

   Achury, Rafael; Holway, David A.; Suarez, Andrew V. (March 2021, Ecology)

   null (Ed.)
3. Direct evidence of native ant displacement by the Argentine ant in island ecosystems

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-019-02121-7  

   Naughton, I. (November 2020, Biological invasions)

   null (Ed.)

   Ecological impacts associated with ant introductions have received considerable attention, but most studies that report on these impacts contrast species assemblages between invaded and uninvaded sites. Given the low inferential power of this type of space-for-time comparison, alternative approaches are needed to evaluate claims that ant invasions drive native species loss. Here, we use long-term data sets from two different Argentine ant eradication programs on the California Channel Islands to examine how the richness and composition of native ant assemblages change before and after invasion (but prior to the initiation of treatments). At four different sites on two different islands, pre-invasion native ant assemblages closely resembled those at uninvaded (control) sites in terms of species richness, species composition, and the presence of multiple indicator species. Invader arrival coincided with large (> 75%) and rapid (within 1 year) declines in species richness, shifts in species composition, and the loss of indicator species. These impacts will hopefully be reversed by the recolonization of formerly invaded areas by native ant species following Argentine ant treatment, and long-term studies of native ant recovery at these sites are ongoing. Unchecked spread of the Argentine ant on other islands in this archipelago, however, poses a grave threat to native ants, which include a number of endemic taxa. 

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4. Does ant–plant mutualism have spillover effects on the non‐partner ant community?

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8524  

   Donald, Marion L.; Miller, Tom E. X. (January 2022, Ecology and Evolution)

   Abstract Mutualism benefits partner species, and theory predicts these partnerships can affect the abundance, diversity, and composition of partner and non‐partner species. We used 16 years of monitoring data to determine the ant partner species of tree cholla cacti (Cylindropuntia imbricata), which reward ants with extrafloral nectar in exchange for anti‐herbivore defense. These long‐term data revealed one dominant ant partner (Liometopum apiculatum) and two less common partners (Crematogaster opuntiaeandForelius pruinosus). We then used short‐term characterization of the terrestrial ant community by pitfall trapping to sample partner and non‐partner ant species across ten plots of varying cactus density. We found that the dominant ant partner tended a higher proportion cacti in plots of higher cactus density, and was also found at higher occurrence within the pitfall traps in higher density plots, suggesting a strong positive feedback that promotes ant partner occurrence where plant partners are available. Despite the strong association and increased partner occurrence, ant community‐wide effects from this mutualism appear limited. Of the common ant species, the occurrence of a single non‐partner ant species was negatively associated with cactus density and with the increased presence ofL. apiculatum. Additionally, the composition and diversity of the ant community in our plots were insensitive to cactus density variation, indicating that positive effects of the mutualism on the dominant ant partner did not have cascading impacts on the ant community. This study provides novel evidence that exclusive mutualisms, even those with a strong positive feedback, may be limited in the scope of their community‐level effects. 

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5. Reversal Learning in Ant Colonies

   https://doi.org/10.46867/ijcp.20778  

   Sanabria, Federico; Santos, Cristina; Rajagopal, Supraja; Sasaki, Takao (January 2024, International Journal of Comparative Psychology)

   Reversal learning has been studied in many species, often as an indicator of their behavioral flexibility. Although this research typically focuses on individuals, groups of social animals, especially social insects, are often considered to have similar learning capabilities. Associative learning has been rarely studied in ant colonies and their behavioral flexibility is still to be assessed. In this study, ant colonies readily learned to discriminate between compound visuotactile cues and subsequently learned their reversal. Reversal performance was maintained after a 5-day retention interval, but not after a 10-day interval. Although this study does not differentiate learning processes at the individual vs. colony levels, it is the first demonstration of reversal learning conducted in ant colonies. These results show that the two-corridor maze can serve to assess colony-level learning in ants. This is a first step to investigate key mechanisms underlying collective learning and cognition in ants. 

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