... stingless bee workers under a manipulated social environment and diet are irreversibly sterile. Activated ovaries Ovarioles Spermatheca Programmed cell death Reproductive system Eusociality In social insects, the reproductive labour is divided between queens and workers ( Hammond...

... 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...