Daniel Kronauer
@danielkronauer.bsky.social
PI @Rockefeller University. Investigator @HHMI. Instigator of clonal raider ant project #CRAP. 🐜 Evolution, Behavior & Neuroscience. Posts science and photography. 🧠 📸
https://www.rockefeller.edu/research/2280-kronauer-laboratory/
https://www.rockefeller.edu/research/2280-kronauer-laboratory/
Dinomyrmex gigas, the giant forest ant (large workers are ca. 28mm) dissolves territorial disputes with other colonies via a ritualized behavior called “front leg boxing”. This allows the ants to maintain territorial boundaries while avoiding escalated conflict. Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo.
February 3, 2026 at 1:53 AM
Dinomyrmex gigas, the giant forest ant (large workers are ca. 28mm) dissolves territorial disputes with other colonies via a ritualized behavior called “front leg boxing”. This allows the ants to maintain territorial boundaries while avoiding escalated conflict. Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo.
Postdoc Yannick Günzel, who studies how clonal raider ants interact with their larvae, went to a comedy show in NYC. Now he’s famous… 🤪
youtube.com/shorts/ZETUy...
youtube.com/shorts/ZETUy...
Scientific strides #comedy #standup
YouTube video by Jordan Jensen
youtube.com
January 24, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Postdoc Yannick Günzel, who studies how clonal raider ants interact with their larvae, went to a comedy show in NYC. Now he’s famous… 🤪
youtube.com/shorts/ZETUy...
youtube.com/shorts/ZETUy...
Reposted by Daniel Kronauer
January 7, 2026 at 10:36 PM
These white rhinos at Lake Nakuru in Kenya are headed toward 2026 with cautious optimism. Happy Holidays y’all!
December 23, 2025 at 8:27 PM
These white rhinos at Lake Nakuru in Kenya are headed toward 2026 with cautious optimism. Happy Holidays y’all!
Reposted by Daniel Kronauer
In creating the first reference brain for the clonal raider ant, @danielkronauer.bsky.social has discovered a surprising individuality of brain characteristics that may yield new insights into the #neuroscience of individuality within animal societies.
🔗: www.rockefeller.edu/news/38754-a...
🔗: www.rockefeller.edu/news/38754-a...
December 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM
In creating the first reference brain for the clonal raider ant, @danielkronauer.bsky.social has discovered a surprising individuality of brain characteristics that may yield new insights into the #neuroscience of individuality within animal societies.
🔗: www.rockefeller.edu/news/38754-a...
🔗: www.rockefeller.edu/news/38754-a...
A telltale sign that it’s that time of the year again: festively dressed clonal raider ants are decorating the lab.
December 10, 2025 at 2:14 AM
A telltale sign that it’s that time of the year again: festively dressed clonal raider ants are decorating the lab.
The final version of the clonal raider ant reference brain is now out OA in @currentbiology.bsky.social:
🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
December 5, 2025 at 4:30 PM
The final version of the clonal raider ant reference brain is now out OA in @currentbiology.bsky.social:
🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜 🧠 🐜
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Daniel Kronauer
New #research from Priya Rajasethupathy shows that long-term memory is formed by a cascade of molecular timers across brain regions.
“What we choose to remember is a continuously evolving process rather than a one-time flipping of a switch," she says.
🔗:https://bit.ly/44tpEUT
“What we choose to remember is a continuously evolving process rather than a one-time flipping of a switch," she says.
🔗:https://bit.ly/44tpEUT
November 26, 2025 at 6:51 PM
New #research from Priya Rajasethupathy shows that long-term memory is formed by a cascade of molecular timers across brain regions.
“What we choose to remember is a continuously evolving process rather than a one-time flipping of a switch," she says.
🔗:https://bit.ly/44tpEUT
“What we choose to remember is a continuously evolving process rather than a one-time flipping of a switch," she says.
🔗:https://bit.ly/44tpEUT
Oof…Takashi Komatsu, Taku Shimada, and Munetoshi Maruyama just published a photography book on “The Ant Guests”. The photos are stunning! The book is organized by geographical region, and text is in both Japanese and English. Check it out (and order it) here:
roppon-ashi.jp/en/products/...
roppon-ashi.jp/en/products/...
November 26, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Oof…Takashi Komatsu, Taku Shimada, and Munetoshi Maruyama just published a photography book on “The Ant Guests”. The photos are stunning! The book is organized by geographical region, and text is in both Japanese and English. Check it out (and order it) here:
roppon-ashi.jp/en/products/...
roppon-ashi.jp/en/products/...
Reposted by Daniel Kronauer
Thrilled to share the first full paper from @AntLabUNAM! 🐜💥
Our paper examines how queen and worker harvester ants differ in ovarian morphology and gene expression, shedding light on the ovary as a hub for multiple physiological systems, not just reproduction. Check it out! rdcu.be/ePNP8
Our paper examines how queen and worker harvester ants differ in ovarian morphology and gene expression, shedding light on the ovary as a hub for multiple physiological systems, not just reproduction. Check it out! rdcu.be/ePNP8
Age, caste, and social context shape ovarian morphology and transcriptomic profiles in red harvester ants
npj Aging - Age, caste, and social context shape ovarian morphology and transcriptomic profiles in red harvester ants
rdcu.be
November 20, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Thrilled to share the first full paper from @AntLabUNAM! 🐜💥
Our paper examines how queen and worker harvester ants differ in ovarian morphology and gene expression, shedding light on the ovary as a hub for multiple physiological systems, not just reproduction. Check it out! rdcu.be/ePNP8
Our paper examines how queen and worker harvester ants differ in ovarian morphology and gene expression, shedding light on the ovary as a hub for multiple physiological systems, not just reproduction. Check it out! rdcu.be/ePNP8
Reposted by Daniel Kronauer
Calling all rising juniors & seniors: Interested in biological or biomedical research? Applications for our ’26 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program are now open! Nine weeks, hands-on research, & mentorship from some of the nation’s top scientists — learn more: bit.ly/CechFellows
Summer Undergraduate Research Experience | HHMI
The Cech Fellows Program is a paid, nine-week summer research experience empowering the next generation of scientific leaders.
bit.ly
November 18, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Calling all rising juniors & seniors: Interested in biological or biomedical research? Applications for our ’26 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program are now open! Nine weeks, hands-on research, & mentorship from some of the nation’s top scientists — learn more: bit.ly/CechFellows
More ant talk, this time with rdzombak.bsky.social about how socially parasitic ant queens kill the resident queen to take over a colony. Or, in this case, how they manipulate the workers to kill their own mother. Cool new study by Taku “AntRoom” Shimada and colleagues in currentbiology.bsky.social.
November 17, 2025 at 7:21 PM
More ant talk, this time with rdzombak.bsky.social about how socially parasitic ant queens kill the resident queen to take over a colony. Or, in this case, how they manipulate the workers to kill their own mother. Cool new study by Taku “AntRoom” Shimada and colleagues in currentbiology.bsky.social.
Flora Lichtman and I chat about ants on Science Friday:
Animals are endlessly fascinating! Two cool animal studies to kick off the week: 1) How #woodpeckers peck wood, and 2) How #ants crown a queen.
Flora talks with @nickantonson.bsky.social about woodpeckers and @danielkronauer.bsky.social about ants.
www.sciencefriday.com/segments/ant...
Flora talks with @nickantonson.bsky.social about woodpeckers and @danielkronauer.bsky.social about ants.
www.sciencefriday.com/segments/ant...
How A Woodpecker Pecks Wood, And How Ants Crown A Queen
Is it all in the hips? Scientists break down woodpeckers' head-hammering moves. Plus, what makes one ant a queen and another a worker?
www.sciencefriday.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Flora Lichtman and I chat about ants on Science Friday:
Btw, most of the photographs on display are by a certain alexwild.bsky.social
November 16, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Btw, most of the photographs on display are by a certain alexwild.bsky.social
The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT, has a new exhibit: Ants - Tiny Creatures, Big Lives. We went today, and here are some impressions. It’s not a massive exhibit, but well done and certainly worth checking out if you’re in the area. The exhibit runs through May 17.
November 16, 2025 at 10:31 PM
The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT, has a new exhibit: Ants - Tiny Creatures, Big Lives. We went today, and here are some impressions. It’s not a massive exhibit, but well done and certainly worth checking out if you’re in the area. The exhibit runs through May 17.
Final version now out in @elife.bsky.social: Heterozygosity at a conserved candidate sex determination locus is associated with female development in the clonal raider ant (Ooceraea biroi) doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Heterozygosity at a conserved candidate sex determination locus is associated with female development in the clonal raider ant (Ooceraea biroi)
A complementary sex determination locus is conserved in ants and dates back to approximately 112 million years ago.
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Final version now out in @elife.bsky.social: Heterozygosity at a conserved candidate sex determination locus is associated with female development in the clonal raider ant (Ooceraea biroi) doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
New article from the lab out today, in which we discuss how social behavior evolves at the molecular level. From parenting across the animal tree of life to caste systems in social insects, it’s all connected (and, therefore, slowly starts to make sense)…
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 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭l shorturl.at/g5OPw /1
Convergent evolution of a conserved molecular network underlies parenting and sociality - Nature Reviews Genetics
Kay et al. review evidence that parental care, and more complex social behaviour based on parental care, evolved in multiple species through the repeated co-option of members of a pleiotropic molecula...
shorturl.at
November 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
New article from the lab out today, in which we discuss how social behavior evolves at the molecular level. From parenting across the animal tree of life to caste systems in social insects, it’s all connected (and, therefore, slowly starts to make sense)…
Lab members are once again outdoing themselves at the annual @rockefeller.edu pumpkin carving contest. This year’s submission: an ant farm pumpkin with a carpenter ant colony digging to find a chamber of prey Drosophila.
October 29, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Lab members are once again outdoing themselves at the annual @rockefeller.edu pumpkin carving contest. This year’s submission: an ant farm pumpkin with a carpenter ant colony digging to find a chamber of prey Drosophila.
Such a cool story! I loved your talk at Janelia last week!
October 29, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Such a cool story! I loved your talk at Janelia last week!
It’s mosquito o’clock apparently- here’s another cool paper about these unpleasant little blood suckers (with, it once again turns out, really interesting adaptations):
How does life evolve to adapt to modern cities?
Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.
🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Out now in Science, my PhD work with @lindymcbr.bsky.social uncovers the ancient origin of the “London Underground mosquito” – one of the most iconic examples of urban adaptation.
🧵(1/n)
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady4515
Ancient origin of an urban underground mosquito
Understanding how life is adapting to urban environments represents an important challenge in evolutionary biology. In this work, we investigate a widely cited example of urban adaptation, Culex pipie...
www.science.org
October 29, 2025 at 1:50 AM
It’s mosquito o’clock apparently- here’s another cool paper about these unpleasant little blood suckers (with, it once again turns out, really interesting adaptations):
Reposted by Daniel Kronauer
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>
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>
October 28, 2025 at 8:57 PM
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>
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>
Happy to chat about this. Could you please send me an email to start the conversation?
October 20, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Happy to chat about this. Could you please send me an email to start the conversation?
Absolutely! Sometimes things fall into place just right. 🐜 🧠 🐜
October 20, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Absolutely! Sometimes things fall into place just right. 🐜 🧠 🐜