7/ Take-home message:
The evolution of strong caste differences and complex ant societies wasn’t just about colony size or genetics—it was about who fed the larvae and how! 🍽️👶

5/ Our causal models suggest:
🔹 More controlled feeding of larvae = More morphological specialization
🔹 Adult-controlled feeding enabled extreme caste differences, which in turn reinforced colony-level social complexity.

4/ Why does larval feeding matter?
Larvae are inherently *unruly*, trying to secure as much food as possible from the colony. By taking full control of larval nutrition, adult ants were able to sculpt extreme queen-worker differences, fueling higher social complexity.

3/Using comparative phylogenetic methods, we identified a major evolutionary shift:
The transition from self-feeding larvae to passive larvae receiving processed food from adults facilitated greater queen-worker differentiation, larger colonies, and increased social complexity. 🎯

2/ We digitized larval morphology for 700+ ant species, measured caste dimorphism in nearly 400 species, and compiled data on diets, larval feeding behaviors, and social traits across ant diversity.

🚨 New Paper Alert! 🚨

🐜 How did ants evolve their highly specialized queens and workers?

With @adriatica.bsky.social, we reveal a key evolutionary innovation: adult control over larval feeding unlocked extreme caste dimorphism and complex societies. 🧵👇

🔗 Read in @pnas.org: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...