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Peer-reviewedCC BYProceedings. Biological sciences

Evolution of neurometabolic frugality in harvester ants.

  • Craig D Perl1
  • Zach N Coto2
  • Robert Johnson1
  • Meredith Johnson3
  • Leland Graber4
  • James Haas1
  • Jane S Waters5
  • James Traniello2
  • Jon F Harrison1
5 affiliations
  1. 1School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ, USA.
  2. 2Biology, Boston University , Boston, MA, USA.
  3. 3Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ, USA.
  4. 4Cornell University , Ithaca, NY, USA.
  5. 5Biology, Providence College , Providence, RI, USA.
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Abstract

Despite the importance of neurometabolic cost in brain size evolution, quantitative data on brain metabolic rates (MRs) are lacking. We measured ex vivo brain MRs among species of the ant genus Pogonomyrmex to test three hypotheses: (i) more socially complex species have higher brain MRs; (ii) smaller-bodied species have higher brain mass-specific metabolic rates (MSMRs); and (iii) more recently derived species have evolved more metabolically 'frugal' brains. Worker body size and colony size, a proxy for social complexity vary significantly among Pogonomyrmex species and were positively correlated. Species with larger colonies did not have larger brains or higher brain MRs. Species with smaller workers had relatively larger brains and higher brain MSMR: 38% of resting MR was attributable to brain metabolism in species with the smallest workers, compared to 6% in species with the largest workers. We suggest that smaller worker body sizes may require higher brain mass-specific energetic costs to achieve comparable performance by absolutely smaller brains. More derived species had strikingly lower mass-specific brain metabolic costs, suggesting that increases in worker body size have selected for neurometabolic frugality through reductions in brain MSMR.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{perl2026evolution,
  title = {{Evolution of neurometabolic frugality in harvester ants.}},
  author = {Craig D Perl and Zach N Coto and Robert Johnson and Meredith Johnson and Leland Graber and James Haas and Jane S Waters and James Traniello and Jon F Harrison},
  journal = {Proceedings. Biological sciences},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1098/rspb.2026.0387},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42901520},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Evolution of neurometabolic frugality in harvester ants.
AU  - Craig D Perl
AU  - Zach N Coto
AU  - Robert Johnson
AU  - Meredith Johnson
AU  - Leland Graber
AU  - James Haas
AU  - Jane S Waters
AU  - James Traniello
AU  - Jon F Harrison
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - Proceedings. Biological sciences
DO  - 10.1098/rspb.2026.0387
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42901520
AB  - Despite the importance of neurometabolic cost in brain size evolution, quantitative data on brain metabolic rates (MRs) are lacking. We measured ex vivo brain MRs among species of the ant genus Pogonomyrmex to test three hypotheses: (i) more socially complex species have higher brain MRs; (ii) smaller-bodied species have higher brain mass-specific metabolic rates (MSMRs); and (iii) more recently derived species have evolved more metabolically 'frugal' brains. Worker body size and colony size, a proxy for social complexity vary significantly among Pogonomyrmex species and were positively correlated. Species with larger colonies did not have larger brains or higher brain MRs. Species with smaller workers had relatively larger brains and higher brain MSMR: 38% of resting MR was attributable to brain metabolism in species with the smallest workers, compared to 6% in species with the largest workers. We suggest that smaller worker body sizes may require higher brain mass-specific energetic costs to achieve comparable performance by absolutely smaller brains. More derived species had strikingly lower mass-specific brain metabolic costs, suggesting that increases in worker body size have selected for neurometabolic frugality through reductions in brain MSMR.
SN  - 0962-8452
SN  - 1471-2954
ER  -