Social complexity influences brain investment and neural operation costs in ants
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The metabolic expense of producing and operating neural tissue required for adaptive behaviour is considered a significant selective force in brain evolution. In primates, brain size correlates positively with group size, presumably owing to the greater cognitive demands of complex social relationships in large societies. Social complexity in eusocial insects is also associated with large groups, as well as collective intelligence and division of labour among sterile workers. However, superorganism phenotypes may lower cognitive demands on behaviourally specialized workers resulting in selection for decreased brain size and/or energetic costs of brain metabolism. To test this hypothesis, we compared brain investment patterns and cytochrome oxidase (COX) activity, a proxy for ATP usage, in two ant species contrasting in social organization. Socially complex Oecophylla smaragdina workers had larger brain size and relative investment in the mushroom bodies (MBs)-higher order sensory processing compartments-than the more socially basic Formica subsericea workers. Oecophylla smaragdina workers, however, had reduced COX activity in the MBs. Our results suggest that as in primates, ant group size is associated with large brain size. The elevated costs of investment in metabolically expensive brain tissue in the socially complex O. smaragdina, however, appear to be offset by decreased energetic costs.
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Weaver ant worker mushroom bodies have reduced COX activity.
“Weaver ant worker mushroom bodies have reduced COX activity.”
From When and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size? A New Change-Point Analysis and Insights From Brain Evolution in Ants (2021) · cites this paper as Kamhi et al., 2016
Increased social complexity in weaver ants was associated with larger mushroom bodies, implying greater needs for higher-order information processing.
“Increased social complexity in weaver ants-reflected in division of labor by worker physical castes, large colony size, and remarkable decentralized group action including cooperative nest building-was associated with larger mushroom bodies, implying greater needs for higher-order information processing.”
From When and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size? A New Change-Point Analysis and Insights From Brain Evolution in Ants (2021) · cites this paper as Kamhi et al., 2016
Insect colony organization may involve selection for either smaller, neurally differentiated worker brains or larger brains able to metabolically offset increased production and operation costs.
“insect colony organization may involve selection for either smaller, neurally differentiated worker brains (Lihoreau et al., 2012;Riveros et al., 2012;O'Donnell et al., 2015;Feinerman and Traniello, 2016) or larger brains (Wehner et al., 2007) able to metabolically offset increased production and operation costs (Kamhi et al., 2016).”
From When and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size? A New Change-Point Analysis and Insights From Brain Evolution in Ants (2021) · cites this paper as Kamhi et al., 2016
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- Authors
- Kamhi, J. F., Gronenberg, W., Robson, S. K. A., & Traniello, J. F. A.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- James Cook University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Kamhi, J. Frances
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2016-10-26
- Volume
- 283
- Issue
- 1841
- Pages
- 20161949
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC5095391
- OpenAlex
- W2538465829
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 91
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 4.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) (acceptedVersion)
- ResearchOnline at James Cook University (James Cook University) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (EAPSI - 1209967)
- Directorate for Biological Sciences (IOB-0725013, IOS-1354291)
- Australian Research Council (Discovery grant 1093553)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- social complexity, brain size, cytochrome oxidase activity, Oecophylla smaragdina, ants, eusocial insects, mushroom body, group size, superorganism, brain evolution, collective intelligence, division of labor
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Ants, Brain, Cognition, Electron Transport Complex IV, Energy Metabolism, Organ Size, Social Behavior, Mushroom Bodies
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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