Maria Litto

DNA methylation reflects tissue and caste identity but not parasitism-induced changes in a social insect Abstract. The role of DNA methylation in regulating transcriptional activity and post-transcriptional modifications in insects, particularly in social inse

Our paper is now out in Proceedings of the Royal Society B 🧬🐜

Explore how tissue- and caste-specific DNA methylation relates to gene expression, while parasite-induced transcriptional changes occur independently of DNA methylation.
👉 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Thanks to @socialinsectlab.bsky.social

Congratulations Janisse and to all co-authors! 👏

3-year PhD position in insect ecophysiology and land-use intensity with PD Dr. Florian Menzel (@unimainz.bsky.social) and Prof. Dr. Thomas Schmitt ( #Würzburg ). Application deadline: February 4th, 2026. More info here: www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb10-evoluti... #insects #ecophysiology #land-use #CHCs

This parasitic ant tricks workers into committing matricide Newly mated parasitic queen ants invade colonies and spray their victims with a chemical irritant that provokes the workers to kill their mother.

This is such a cool study. A parasitic ant queen tricks worker ants into murdering their own queen, so the parasite can take over the colony.

What can we learn from Natural History Museums? @corriemoreau.bsky.social gives some examples! #evolution #scicomm #museums @ncse.bsky.social

Complementary sex determination (CSD) in bees and ants. Top left: Single-locus CSD is likely to be the predominant mode of sex determination in Hymenoptera. CSD loci have been identified in two species: the honeybee Apis mellifera and the invasive ant Linepithema humile. The tree shows evolutionary relationships between these species and Osmia bicornis, the main subject of this study. The origin of Hymenoptera is estimated as 386 million years ago and the common ancestor of Apoidea and Formicoidea is estimated as 153 million years ago. Top right: Under single-locus CSD, females are heterozygous at the CSD locus, whereas males are haploid and therefore hemizygous. A large number of CSD alleles are expected to segregate in outbred populations. A small proportion of homozygotes at the CSD locus are produced by chance, when parents share an allele, which results in the production of sterile diploid males. Middle: An O. bicornis nest consists of a row of cocoons in a tube. The mother lays fertilized diploid eggs deepest in the nest and unfertilized haploid eggs closer to the entrance. Eggs develop into adults inside cocoons. Diploid eggs typically develop into females whereas haploid eggs become male. A small proportion of diploids that are homozygous at the CSD locus develop into diploid males, which occur amongst females and are larger than haploid males. Bottom: A male and female red mason bee mating. Photo by Marie Louise Huskens.

#Haplodiploid inheritance is found in all species of #Hymenoptera. @mwbstr.bsky.social &co map the #sex determining #gene of the red mason #bee to the ANTSR gene region, suggesting a shared, ancient origin of #SexDetermination in bees & ants >150 Mya ago @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/47COEtH

a man in a striped jacket is walking with three penguins behind him ALT: a man in a striped jacket is walking with three penguins behind him

A movie you've seen more than 7 times with a gif

Great working environment and beautiful location!

We are hiring!! #job Interested in #Ageing #Evolution #Ants #Single-cell 🐜🧬 Check our call, we offer a PhD position at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz! check the link
www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb10-evoluti...

Better safe than sorry: leg amputations as a prophylactic wound care behaviour in carpenter ants buff.ly/INPxtKN | #ProcB #Behaviour #Evolution #WoundInfection

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

You may have missed this #ant poster at #ESEB2025, but be sure not to miss the article just published in #openacess in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Last week our PhD Selina Huthmacher presented her work at ‪@ceiussi.bsky.social‬ on #CHCs in ants. If you want to know more check her recent paper >> royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1... <<

Also another of our PhD student Max Bolder had the opportunity to discuss some of his new results about the vampire ants Stigmatomma pallipes. If you want to know more contact him on Bluesky >>> @boldest-ant.bsky.social <<<

⏳ Time is ticking… Only 5 days left!

Don’t miss your chance to share your work at #ABL2025, our free online conference on animal behavior research.

🎤 15-min oral talks
🎥 5-min video posters
📅 Deadline: September 7
📄 Submit your abstract now 👉 ablaoc25.sciencesconf.org

Don't forget the talk of Max today at 3 pm about #vampireants 🧛🐜 @ceiussi.bsky.social #CEIUSSI

We’ve got seven places left!

Sadly, this is the last Evolution of Ageing workshop to be held with the Gutenberg series. It won’t be continuing next year!

2 of our PhD students, Max Bolder (@boldest-ant.bsky.social) and Selina Huthmacher are going to the
8th Central European IUSSI Meeting (@ceiussi.bsky.social)! If you are there don't miss their talks! 🐜👑🐜👃More info 👇
ce-iussi-meeting-szeged2025.iussi.de/programme/

🚨Introducing the @sortee.bsky.social Guidelines for Data and Code Quality Control in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology🚨 doi.org/10.32942/X24...

Increasingly E&E journals are recruiting data editors. We provide standardised guidelines for journals with data editors and those wanting to recruit them 🧵

Thanks to Sofia and May Sheday for the courageous and inspiring talks! The scientific world cannot remain silent @eseb2025.bsky.social #ESEB2025 #inclusivity 🏳️‍🌈 #transrights 🏳️‍⚧️ #freepalestine 🇵🇸

Guidelines for experimental design for ecology and evolution

Photo of the final slide of J Mappes's plenary at ESEB Text on the slide: Take-home Natural history matters Ecological reality is complex Fresh ideas matter Be ready to reject your favourite hypothesis Science moves forward when we keep both our curiosity and our humility

Final words of the last #ESEB2025 plenary by @jmappes.bsky.social:
"Science moves forward when we keep both our curiosity and our humility"

Last round of posters for our group today at @eseb2025.bsky.social ! Go and check for Clarita (@clariona.bsky.social) a the poster 047, you will found out more about cool ant brains! She will be there from 5 pm onwards! Bring a glass of sangria and your questions! 🐜🧠🍷 #ESEB #ESEB2025

Photo of the talk, showing 3+4 ERC logos crossed out and two Wallenberg foundation logos crossed out

At the end of his #ESEB2025 plenary on deep-time palaeogenomes, Love Dalén shared his history of trying to obtain a big grant for his work. It eventually worked out!

In particular, my talk is at 12:30 (going into lunch 😱), but that means ✨ *no other talks at the same time!* ✨

Room 131+132!

“How metabolic division of labour is key to ratcheting in cooperation”

It's a cat! It's an ant! It's our group 🇮🇹🇩🇪🇨🇴🇳🇱🇮🇳🇮🇷 at @eseb2025.bsky.social enjoying the city! #ESEB2025 🇪🇸🐜

The European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) is a pan-European community initiative to coordinate the generation of reference genomes representing European eukaryotic biodiversity @ergabiodiv.bsky.social #eseb2025

I presented my poster at the #ESEB2025 !

📢 Call for entomologists🐝 We are looking for Vespula germanica from Europe to further our understanding of the invasion dynamics of the species. Please get in touch!

The second day at @eseb2025.bsky.social was full of talks and posters from our group! If you missed Tom, Amir and Luisa (@jaimesnino.bsky.social) go and search for them! They have still a lot to say about their research! 🐜🪱💀🐜 #ESEB #ESEB2025

Thanks, Hanna! There are quite a few Kokkonuts at #ESEB2025! On Thursday, @gauravathreya.bsky.social talks about ageing + sex, @tomospotter.bsky.social talks about guppy polymorphisms, @ccrowther.bsky.social has a poster on nesting 🐢, and Victor Ronget has a poster on ageing trends in mammals + 🐦!