Best Paper Award 2024

In 2024, Myrmecological News awards for the seventh time the Best Paper of the previous year. From January 13^th to January 27^th, the editorial board and the community voted for the most favourite papers published in 2024.
After some tight voting, it is our great pleasure to announce the winner of the certificate of this Best Paper 2024 and the voucher worth the Article Processing Charge (800 EURO) of a future contribution in Myrmecological News goes to:

🥁🥁 *** Drum rolls please *** 🥁🥁

“Trophic-egg transfer in the black cocoa ant Dolichoderus thoracicus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and other dolichoderine ants in Taiwan.” by Joanne Tzu-Chia Chen et al. 🎉🎉🎉

Edit by Purbayan Ghosh and Salvatore Brunett

A View by Tzu-Chia Chen

My name is Joanne Tzu-Chia Chen, and I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in entomology at the University of California, Riverside. This research began during my time as a research assistant in the Department of Entomology at National Taiwan University and built upon my earlier work as a master’s student at National Changhua University of Education.

While studying Dolichoderus thoracicus, I initially chose this species as a model for learning dissection techniques. To my surprise, I discovered that many worker ants possessed well-developed ovaries—an unusual trait that piqued my curiosity and prompted further investigate. After careful observation of colony’s behavior, we revealed that these workers were laying trophic eggs, which were then consumed by other nestmates.

Our research uncovered that D. thoracicus relies entirely on trophic egg transfer for food sharing, rather than using the more common method of stomodeal trophallaxis. Even more exciting, we documented the very first observations of trophic egg production in two Dolichoderus species and three Technomyrmex species, broadening the known diversity of ants using this unique strategy. By shining light on this alternative mode of nutrient distribution, our findings provide new insights into the complex social organization and food-sharing strategies within ant colonies.