Dr. Conway will give an illustrated talk using many photos from his research and publications on the honeypot ant.

This ant species is very unusual in that certain workers, called repletes, develop greatly swollen, grape-size gasters when other colony workers collect and feed them plant nectar. The repletes spend their entire lives imprisoned in the nest hanging from the ceilings of specially-constructed large dome-shaped chambers and regurgitate their stored “honey” to feed the other colony members in times of food scarcity. Thus, this species stores “honey” in living sisters that sacrifice their lives for the good of the colony.