2025/11/01 by Taku Shimada, Yuji Tanaka, Keizo Takasuka · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Fossil Insects in Amber #Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior #Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
paper · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2025.09.037
openalex publication_date 2025/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/11/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/13
Matricide — the killing of a mother by her own genetic offspring — is rarely observed in nature, but not unheard-of. Among animal species in which offspring remain with their mothers, the benefits gained from maternal care are so substantial 1 that eliminating the mother almost never pays, making matricide vastly rarer than infanticide. Here, we report matricidal behavior in two ant species, Lasius flavus and Lasius japonicus , where workers kill resident queens (their mothers) after the latter have been sprayed with abdominal fluid by parasitic ant queens of the ants Lasius orientalis and Lasius umbratus.