Our new paper in Oikos!

Developing reproductive termites perform worker-like brood care during natural colony emigration, revealing unexpected caste flexibility in a highly specialized society.

A rare 8-hour field observation in Borneo captured 155,000 termites.

doi.org/10.1002/oik....

Our paper is now published in Evolutionary Ecology

"Variation in soldier investment is linked to the evolution of termite soldier defense strategies"

We show that differences in termite defense strategies are associated with evolutionary patterns of soldier investment.
🔗 rdcu.be/e4cL3

A new paper out:
We estimate how far termites walk during mate search using posture tracking and behavioral simulation.

Part of the special collection Emerging Leaders in Pest Science: Celebrating 100 Years of Innovation.

Open access: doi.org/10.1007/s103...

New paper by our lab PhD student, Elijah, is out!
We report a unique termite tandem run with wings, which usually happens after wing-shedding in other species.
Shows how mating behaviors diversify via temporal reordering of components.
Open Access: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

New paper out!
We report an observation of living bridge formation by Old World Army Ants.
Read here:
doi.org/10.1007/s001...

Excited that our new paper is featured on the cover of J. R. Soc. Interface! (Rare to see termites there, right?)
We show how termites use their antennae and palps to stay in contact while tandem running.
doi.org/10.1098/rsif...

I'm looking for a graduate student (either PhD or master's) to join my lab starting Jan 2026. If you know any students in social behavior and evolution (and termites!), please let them know!

Our new preprint is out! We analyzed the role of antennae movement while tandem running in termites with SLEAP.ai (video is also generated from this).

Here is the link: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We’re looking for an assistant professor in urban entomology at New Mexico State University: careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/assista...
Please apply if interested and do share! 🐜🪰🪳🦟🦗🦂

I'm looking for a graduate student (master's level) to join my lab starting Fall 2025. If you know any undergraduates interested in termite behavior and evolution, please let them know!

Our paper is out from BiolLett! We study termite mating "swarms" from the perspective of collective behavior and found
- Alates synchronize flight even under constant temperature.
- Synchronization is stronger in larger colonies (preliminary)

Paper link: doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

#entomology

A new paper on termite mate pairing has been published. We showed how termites change their movement pattern and mate choice strategy when they cannot find a partner for a while.