Zoologger
4 August 2017
Lazy ants lay eggs for their industrious sisters to eat
Not all ants are as busy
Alex Wild/alexanderwild.com
By Karl Gruber
Species: Temnothorax rugatulus ants
Habitat: High-elevation forests of the western US and Canada
A group of ants labelled as lazy in 2015 may play a more important role in their societies than we thought, possibly helping to feed their hard-working peers.
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The ants belong to a species (Temnothorax rugatulus) that builds nests under rocks in the forests of western North America. Most individual ants are busy with daily duties, but Daniel Charbonneau and Anna Dornhaus at the University of Arizona noticed in 2015 that some were consistently doing, well… nothing.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2142851-lazy-ants-lay-eggs-for-their-industrious-sisters-to-eat/
