Tom Kay

Our latest paper (plos.io/43FqBGg) reports a strikingly strong association between social network position and brain-wide patterns of gene expression in a species of carpenter ant (📸 @bartjzijlstra)

A study from Rockefeller's @DanielKronauer in @CurrentBiology 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. 🔗:bit.ly/4sukQIR

Our social chromosome paper is out in @CurrentBiology! Turned out to be beautiful paper, if I may say so myself. Amazing job by @AparnaLajmi with great contributions from other lab members! 🧵 below....

Excited to share our new paper in @CurrentBiology 🐜 tinyurl.com/bcha65br with @eyalprivman, Pnina Cohen, Chih-Chi Lee, Zeev Frenkel, @YoannPellen @UofHaifa @GITAMUniversity Here is a brief summary:

Harmony in the hive? Think again! 🐝⚔️ Insect societies are famous for cooperation, but beneath the surface lies a brutal conflict over who gets to wear the crown. Our new review in Biological Reviews explores the evolutionary battleground caused by such caste fate conflict. 🧵

A stick insect with a bead-like array of biting midges along its antennae. Taken in Mindo, Ecuador

かっこいい！美しい！可愛いアリたち勢ぞろい！！ バンクシーアギトアリ、ホネストイクワガタアリ、青トゲアリ、ルフィペスフトハリアリ、大型ノコギリハリアリ、メタリカタタミアリなど入荷しました。 antroom.cart.fc2.com

We (@DanielKronauer @patKpiekarski) outline a general framework to explain for this convergence. /7

Remarkably, some of the same molecular factors additionally govern lifetime behavioral changes in social insect workers (as they transition from nursing to foraging) and mammals (during puberty). /6

Parental care, and more complex cooperative systems of care, have independently evolved in hundreds of animal lineages. In an article published today, we explore how these behaviors evolve 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 /1 nature.com/articles/s4157…

Excited to share my first author paper in Proc Entomol Soc Wash! We report the first records of Trichorhina heterophthalma & Caraiboscia christiani in Puerto Rico, describe previously unknown ant associations for both species, and provide an updated checklist of isopods for PR 🇵🇷

In our new study we were the first to experimentally simulate the origin of sociality! By controlling how many wasp 🐝daughters could help their mom, we found that early helpers don't just add to colony success—they multiply it!

@LeahHouri What an image 😍

What does mating look like when you only have a single shot at getting it right? Very excited to share our work on an almost-invisible female control, rapidly evolving mating recognition systems, and species that break the rules and take over the world. IN MOSQUITOES>

Varied thrush: The first bird of the fall to get me running down to Prospect Park on a work afternoon. #birdcpp

Back today, this Cooper's hawk has been appearing and disappearing on @RockefellerUniv campus since early October #birdcpp

The past week has seen the return of kinglets to @RockefellerUniv campus - plenty of ruby-crowned (pictured) with a few golden-crowned mixed in #birdcpp