iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The paired, leg-like appendages hanging out from this ant’s mouth don’t belong to some weird parasite. Instead, these are the maxillary (six segments) and labial (four) palps. Ant palps contain touch and taste sensors, and they are used to assess and manipulate food. Formica incerta. Woodstock, NY.

0136

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

@vchandra.bsky.social is starting his lab at the Crick to work on the exciting question of how early brains evolved and how they work. Vikram is fantastic (I had the privilege to work with him for a while), and there’s good news: He’s hiring! Check out the ad below and consider applying.

064

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

The African driver ants are among the most charismatic and (in)famous social insects. Unfortunately, their taxonomy is a bit of a mess. In this new OA paper, we begin to rectify this, focusing on the West African species. Spearheaded by Caspar Schöning and Raphael Weniger. doi.org/10.3897/zook...

0356

Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

Jacopo Razzauti @jacoporazzauti.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

FERAL 1.0 is out! Just to remind you: FERAL is an open-source toolkit for supervised animal behaviour segmentation directly from videos with no pose estimation needed. We made it much easier to install and run FERAL First, to install FERAL: pip install feral www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

biorxiv.org

FERAL: A Supervised Video-Understanding System for Direct Video-to-Behavior Mapping

Quantifying animal behavior often requires segmenting continuous actions into discrete, interpretable states, yet most automated pipelines infer actions from keypoint dynamics and are limited by keypo...

12817

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

New paper from the lab on the molecular regulation of parenting in ants. Spearheaded by postdocs Alex Paul and @tomaskay.bsky.social

04413

Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

The Rockefeller University @rockefeller.edu · 08/07/2026

A new study from Rockefeller's @danielkronauer.bsky.social in @nature.com finds that parenting behavior in ants—who are highly attuned to their young—appears to have evolved in by repurposing ancient neural circuits rather than inventing entirely new brain systems. 🔗: bit.ly/4vUY6Uc

0135

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Our lab at Rockefeller University is looking for a Research Technician to help with our studies of ant social behavior and evolution. 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧬 🐜 Please share and apply here if interested: hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Extern...

hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

Research Technician I - Kronauer Lab

Primary Work Address: 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10065 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. About the Role: The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is seeking ...

01212

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Looks like killa bees saved the Knicks last night!

000

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Some army ants are extremely polymorphic. This photo shows a large soldier and a small regular worker of Eciton hamatum. If you saw them separately, you wouldn’t even think they belong to the same species. You might also notice the light color of the ants - both are callows / newly eclosed.

0469

Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

#Bugsky 🐙🌿 Shared with me by a fof in SoCal - this is a gynandromorph (both male & female) valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa sonorina). Females are black, males orange, so the extreme color dimorphism really stands out. Per Doug Yanega at UC Riverside, bee gynandromorphs he’s seen are mosaic instead—

A photo looking down on an unusual bee clinging to a green shirt. The bee is a stout bee called a carpenter bee, but what’s unusual is that it is both male and female, known as a gynandromorph. In this particular species (Xylocopa sonorina), females are jet black and males are fuzzy orange. This one has an abdomen that is divided into four perfect quadrants, like a checkerboard, alternating orange and black. The thorax is mostly black but with some orange.

332109632

Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

The Rockefeller University @rockefeller.edu · 04/06/2026

Congratulations to Rockefeller’s #classof2026, here’s to your next adventure! 🍾 🔬 🎉 #PHDone

072

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I visited Angeles National Forest with Joe Parker yesterday, and Joe found this giant water bug (Abedus indentatus). The females lay eggs on the males’ backs, and the males carry the eggs around until they hatch. Some serious paternal care.

1230

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

These two male Maasai giraffes seemed to be involved in a playful dance. This behavior, called “necking”, in which the animals swing their necks at each other, is in fact a form of combat practice for young males. It helps the giraffes build neck strength and establishes dominance hierarchies.

050

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

A family group of elephants grazing in Kenya’s Maasai Mara during the early morning hours. Image taken from a hot air balloon.

1110

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

A group of elephants during sunrise in Kenya’s Maasai Mara.

060

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

A herd of elands (Taurotragus oryx) at Mount Kenya, across from Old Moses Camp at 3300 meters elevation. Elands are among the very few mammals who venture up to this altitude, where extensive moorlands cover the slopes of the mountain.

071

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Ants use specialized structures on their front legs, the tibial spurs, which act like fine combs and brushes, to clean their antennae. But how do they clean their front legs? Well, they pass them through their mouthparts every now and then for a thorough wipe down. Dinomyrmex gigas, Danum, Sabah.

1192

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

A colony of Myrmecina (spinosa?) ants under a rock in Danum Valley, Sabah. Upon disturbance, the workers are picking up larvae and pupae, as well as the occasional male, to carry them to safety. Note how hairy the larvae are - they can literally stand on their hairs without touching the ground.

0161

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Ant art at VISTA, the Science Experience Center at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria in Klosterneuburg. Inspired by the work of Sylvia Cremer’s group on ant social immunity.

2183

Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

The Rockefeller University @rockefeller.edu · 09/04/2026

Rockefeller scientists, including @danielkronauer.bsky.social, Vanessa Ruta, Winrich Freiwald, Priya Rajasethupathy, and @erichjarvis.bsky.social, are learning what drives social behavior, and also trying to explain what happens when those roots falter. 🔗: bit.ly/47J2Q5h

094

Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

Informationsdienst Wissenschaft - idw @idw-online.de · 09/04/2026

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena have identified the first brood pheromone in ants—thereby proving that larvae actively influence the colony’s reproduction.... weiterlesen

Ooceraea biroi - Copyright Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

1143

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

The beautiful dewlap displays of anoles serve to defend territories and to attract mates. Here is a lady Dominican anole (Anolis oculatus) admiring her suitor’s efforts at Indian River 🇩🇲. Who wouldn’t melt away at the sight of that flashy wattle?!

0365

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Around the year 2000, Anolis cristatellus, a buff species from Puerto Rico, was introduced. The newcomer has since displaced the native species locally, suggesting that it might ultimately lead to the decline of A. oculatus across large swaths of the island (doi:10.1163/157075407780681365). 3/3

040

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Anolis oculatus, which can be identified by a white spot on top and in the middle of the head (shown here), occurs nowhere else in the world. For the longest time, A. oculatus was the only anole on Dominica. Unfortunately, island endemics are often threatened by invasive species. 2/3

130

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

A tale of two lizards 🦎🦎 Anole lizards are incredibly diverse, particularly in the Caribbean, where many islands harbor their own endemic species. For example, Dominica is home to Anolis oculatus, the Dominican anole. 1/3

1191

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Nasute soldiers (soldiers with a long schnoz from which they can spray defensive compounds) guarding a foraging trail of the termite Longipeditermes longipes at Sepilok, Sabah.

0214

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Dolichoderus affinis ants tending membracids for honeydew. Tambunan, Sabah.

0111

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

A family of curious hyraxes at Mpala Research Centre in Kenya. While these guys superficially resemble marmots, they are actually more closely related to elephants, believe it or not.

1172

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

I guess dik-diks are indeed among the smallest antelopes. The bird is normal. 🤓

010

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

The birds peck at their hosts, removing dead skin and parasites like ticks. However, they also feed on blood from open wounds and slow down wound healing. So for the mammals, these birds are a bit of a double-edged sword. 3/3

2100

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Greater blue-eared starlings are omnivores that eat insects and fruit. However, they also opportunistically perch on mammals, similar to the famous oxpeckers that you frequently see riding on hippos, buffalos, and other large African animals. 2/3

180

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

This greater blue-eared starling was annoying the heck out of a Günther’s dik-dik at Mpala Research Centre in Kenya. For a solid fifteen minutes, the impudent bird just wouldn’t leave the poor thing graze in peace. 1/3

1182

Reposted by Daniel Kronauer

The Rockefeller University @rockefeller.edu · 24/03/2026

A study from Rockefeller's @danielkronauer.bsky.social in @currentbiology.bsky.social finds that ants continually update their sense of nestmate identity and tolerance for outsiders, a discovery that opens the door to studying the neural circuits behind social recognition. 🔗:https://bit.ly/4sukQIR

0155

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Phigalia moths are harbingers of spring, ringing in a reawakening of insect life in New York each year. Needless to say that this scene in Woodstock last weekend lifted my spirits considerably. Btw, these are male moths - the Phigalia females have greatly reduced wings and cannot fly.

0100

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Springtails use aggregation pheromones to find each other. Because they are too small to break the water surface tension, their mutual attraction can result in large black floats. Woodstock, NY.

36613

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

What looks like an oil spill on a roadside puddle is in fact a gathering of thousands of springtails (Collembola). Video below…

48010

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Spearheaded by postdoc Tiphaine Bailly, with help from Matteo Rossi and Stephany Valdés Rodríguez, along with our chemical ecology collaborators Thomas Schmitt and etf1989.bsky.social at the University of Würzburg.

etf1989.bsky.social

Erik T. Frank (@etf1989.bsky.social)

Emmy Noether Group Leader at @Uni_Wue 🇩🇪 studying the Evolution of Social Wound Care in Ants and beyond 🐜 🌴🐝🦍🚑

051

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Ants are experts at telling nestmates from foreigners via subtle differences in odor profiles. In this new paper, we explore the conditions under which ants develop and maintain tolerance to foreigners. Turns out the ant recognition system is surprisingly plastic. www.cell.com/current-biol...

cell.com

Tolerance toward foreigners in ants requires chronic exposure for establishment but only sporadic exposure for maintenance

Bailly et al. show that ants learn to tolerate genetically distinct non-nestmates through prolonged exposure. Once established, this tolerance persists with occasional re-encounters with ants of the s...

24917

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

In the tropics, “pioneer” trees (fast-growing species you see e.g. along the road side) are often “myrmecophytes”, housing ants that defend the tree against herbivores. Here is a sliced Macaranga stem, revealing a founding association of Crematogaster queens with their offspring. Sepilok, Sabah.

0162

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

With about 100 species, the spiny ants of the genus Polyrhachis form the most diverse group of ants on Borneo. Here are two beautiful examples, the golden P. bihamata (look at those fishing hooks!) and the especially armed P. armata. Danum Valley, Sabah.

0333

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Removing the cover reveals the ants’ brood, in this case several pupae. There were no queens in this nest, and I assume it was a satellite nest of a larger colony. Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo

0120

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

It’s the abode of spiny ants (Polyrhachis mucronata or related species). These ants build their nests by combining silk from their larvae with plant debris.

1211

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

What’s this piece of art on the underside of a leaf you may ask?

1142

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I talked with Warren Cornwall about this work for Science: www.science.org/content/arti... And here’s more coverage in the NYT, including some beautiful animations: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/s...

science.org

‘Insane’ images depict ant species in stunning 3D

New method for visualizing organisms opens the door for mass digitization efforts

0103

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Thanks to micro-CT and www.antscan.info, you can now explore high resolution, 3D ant images from anywhere in the world. Fantastic work from Julian Katzke, Francisco Hita Garcia, @economo.bsky.social, Thomas van de Kamp and colleagues just dropped: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

antscan.info

Antscan

12213

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

But it doesn’t have the cute sawfly larva eyes, which threw me off…

010

Daniel Kronauer @danielkronauer.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

I don’t. First I thought sawfly, but somehow doesn’t look right. Any suggestions?

100