Social insect reproductives and non‐reproductives represent ideal models with which to understand the expression and regulation of alternative phenotypes. Most research in this area has focused on the developmental regulation of reproductive phenotypes in obligately social taxa such as honey bees, while relatively few studies have addressed the molecular correlates of reproductive differentiation in species in which the divisi...

The relationships between flying Antarctic seabirds and their at-sea environments remain poorly understood, particularly outside of the breeding season. Improving our knowledge of how these marine predators use their habitat is a critical step towards conservation of these species. We tracked 27 adult Snow Petrels from two large breeding colonies in East Antarctica during the Austral winter (non-breeding period) – when they ar...

Aedes aegypti , presented with a source of L-lactic and 2-ketoglutaric acid in a wind-tunnel bioassay, takeoff, fly upwind, and land on the odorant substrate at rates comparable to those exhibited by mosquitoes presented with a skin-odor stimulus. Addition of carbon dioxide decreased takeoff latency but was not required to elicit upwind flight nor landings. Ketoglutaric acid, a recently identified component of human skin odor,...

Although human skin odor is thought to be the cue that anthropophilic mosquitoes use to discriminate us from other potential hosts, the precise details of how they use skin odor to find and land on a human is unclear. We found that Aedes aegypti land on a source of skin odor without a co-located visual cue. By collecting human odor on glass beads and using identical glass beads to visually conceal skin odor and heat cues, we w...