The Biology of the Clonal Raider Ant (Ooceraea biroi) and Its Role as a Social Insect Model System

The clonal raider ant, Ooceraea biroi , is a blind, subterranean insect that combines several rare life history traits which make it uniquely suited for use as a laboratory model. The species has lost the queen caste; instead, colonies are composed entirely of clonally reproducing workers. Workers lay eggs in synchrony, giving rise to discrete and age-matched cohorts of new workers. Despite this simple biology, the clonal raider ant displays sophisticated social and collective behaviors, including scout-initiated group raids of live arthropod prey as well as regular colony emigrations. The species also relies heavily on pheromones and other olfactory signals to mediate general ant behaviors such as trail following, alarm responses, worker policing, and nonnestmate discrimination. Here, I discuss how the clonal raider ant provides unprecedented access to study these and other social insect behaviors with modern molecular tools.