Images and Media

A talk I gave at the UA College of Science, Science Cafe at Borderlands Brewing Co., January 2016.

T. rugatulus workers with brood. Ants are individually painted in order to track behavior. Photo credit: Alex Wild (http://www.alexanderwild.com, click on photo to visit his page for more amazing insect macrophotography )

Profile of T. rugatulus worker ant head showing compound eye in blue (artificially colored)

T, rugatulus brain labelled with a fluorescent antibody to light up neuronal connections (synapses). The four cup-shaped, stalked structures at the top are aptly called the mushroom bodies and are thought to process and integrate sensory information

SEM image of T. rugatulus ant head mounted vertically showing the many of sensory structures (sensilla) that cover the surface of the antenna

The distal-most antennal segment of a T. rugatulus worker showing invaginated sensilla ampullacea (black arrows). Also visible are the spherical neuronal cell bodies inside the antenna and the branch- like processes of the antennal nerve, projecting to each sensilla on the antennal surface. Scale bar: 100 μm

The distal-most antennal segment of a T. rugatulus worker showing (a) sensilla sockets (black arrows: large sockets, white arrows: small sockets). Scale bar: 100 μm

Cross section of a T. rugatulus antenna showing the antennal nerve

Higher magnification of the antennal nerve showing individual nerve fibers