New preprint up on bioRvix! We compiled a full #ontological series of #development for #Monomorium pharaonis - for all castes! Co-first authored with the amazing Luigi Pontieri and a great team with @Rafiqi51 @ehab_abouheif, and Guojie Zhang 1/6
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.22.423970v1

Ants have been amazing models for #ecoevodevo toward of understanding of #novelty #developmental #evolution #polyphenism #epigenetics #modularity #GxE interactions #social #evolution and #MajorEvolutionaryTransitions. Despite this success little is known about ant development 2/6

Prior to the #modernsysnthesis and #Hamilton's seminal papers, early studies of ants focused largely on their development w/ Dewitz 1878, Blochmann 1892, Hegner 1915, and Lilienstern 1932, just to name a few! One of the oldest embryonic series in ants was by Ganin in 1869 3/6

This work on ant morphology and development faded until throughout the 70s and now in the 2000s great strides have been made in understanding #larval development including number of #instars. However, to date no complete #developmental #table for an ant species exists. 4/6

We used #liveimaging, #fluorescent and #light microscopy, a #germline marker and #2Dmorphometrics to characterize embryonic, larval, and pupal development. We matched M. pharaonis embryonic developmental stages to 17 described in Drosophila and 3 larval instars. 5/6

We hope that this #ontological series can serve as a blueprint for future #developmental tables on ants! Precise knowledge of the length of key developmental events is critical for #RNAi and #CRISPR manipulations! Look out for more ant embryo work from us in the future! 6/6

@evodevo_papers @Embryo_Papers @___SDB___ @EvoDevoPanAm