Group size, behavioral specialization and brain anatomy

What is it about?

We tested whether ants living in larger colonies were more specialized in a task. We also addressed whether this higher specialization with colony size correlated with changes in brain anatomy. We found that ants working in defensive tasks in large colonies have relatively smaller brain regions for memory and learning, when compared to ants .

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Why is it important?

Our research explores the brain anatomy of workers specialized in different tasks according to colony size. Workers of acacia ants are similar in shape and size, so the performed tasks are independent of the worker's morphology.