... , C. and Billen , J. ( 2006 ). Queen-worker differences in spermatheca reservoir of phylogenetically basal ants . Cell Tissue Res.   326 , 169 - 178 . 10.1007/s00441-006-0232-2 Gobin , B. , Ito , F. , Billen , J. and Peeters , C. ( 2008 ). Degeneration of sperm...

... and the spermatheca, respectively. As our study species, we used the bacterium Escherichia coli and the garden ant Lasius niger , whose queens can live for several decades. Our results provide the first empirical evidence that male and female sperm-storage organs display different antibacterial activity. While...

..., rhythmic patterned bursting was detected by extracellular recordings of the nerve N2B2 that innervates the muscles of the spermatheca. Subsequent transections at more posterior regions of the ventral nerve cord revealed more robust rhythmic bursting in N2B2. This rhythmic bursting pattern was found...