We have so much more work to do, to study the convergent evolution of these ants, and the role that their microbiomes play in that. But it's nice to have this review out, laying the groundwork for all our exciting projects to follow!
04.02.2026 17:33 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Three ants with giant gasters are next to each other. The one on the left has a creamy and opaque gaster, the middle one has a dark amber and transluscent gaster, and the third is a lighter honey-colored transluscent gaster. All three ants are Mymecocystus mexicanus repletes from the same colony. The colors are due to the different fluids that they are storing in their crops. Because their crops and gasters are so distended, it's possible to see the crop contents.
A new paper, "Honeypots: a review of repletism across the ants" from our lab was published today, with grad student Bianca Nogueira as first author, and co-authors DiemQuynh Nguyen, @adriatica.bsky.social, and @haidomyrmex.bsky.social.
It was a labor of love!
doi.org/10.25849/myr...
🧵
04.02.2026 17:33 — 👍 12 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 1
Four people and part of the head of another smile next to a table covered in decorated cookies.
A table full of colorfully decorated cookies
Together with the @brittbertolet.bsky.social lab, we decorated cookies and will take them to the department holiday party later this week 🎅
08.12.2025 22:53 — 👍 12 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
A woman smiles, making a peace sign, in front of a poster titled "Characterizing the gut microbiome of (Myrmecocystus spp.) honeypot ants
A woman stands, smiling, making a peace sign, in front of a poster titled, "Evolutionary and Ecological Contributions ot the Honeypot ant Gut Microbiome"
A man stands, smiling, holding a peace sign, in front of a poster titled, "Developing a Genome Scale Metabolic Model (GEM) for Fructilactobacillus in Honeypot Ants (Myrmecocystus mexicanus)"
A woman stands at a lecturn in front of a projected presentation, giving a talk in a dark room. The slide on the screen has hand-drawn images of various insects, with the title Host-Associated Microbiomes
Most of the lab attended the Theobald Smith Society meeting last week. Faith, DiemQuynh and Ian all presented posters, and DiemQuynh presented a brief talk on her work.
We all learned a lot, received great feedback and had great conversations with other attendees. @njmicrobe.bsky.social
21.11.2025 18:07 — 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Six people smiling at the camera in a cinder block hallway
The team is all here! Faith, DiemQuynh and Bianca (PhD students), Lashon (undergrad), Lily (PI) and Ian (postdoc).
Excited for a lot of great science from a group of excellent people.
05.09.2025 16:44 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
A person is face down in a hole in the desert surrounded by shovels and other tools of various sizes
The same person is now facing up. She's wearing a headlamp and holding a spoon, with a pained smile on her face
Good fun in the field with DiemQuynh who is learning how to collect honeypot ants while hanging upside down
17.07.2025 19:11 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1
