Nogueira, B.R., LeBoeuf, A.C., Barden, P., Nguyen, D.Q.V, Khadempour, L.

Honeypots: a review of repletism across the ants

Honeypot ants are a fascinating case of the convergent evolution of an internal food storage strategy. They are characterized by a subset of physogastric workers, called repletes, that store food long-term in their crops to support the colony in times of low resource availability. Despite their biological and evolutionary significance, information on honeypot ants remains scattered, and the trait itself has lacked a clear and unified definition. This review synthesizes current knowledge on replete morphology, physiology, and function, establishing a foundation for defining the repletism syndrome. Through our literature review, we confirm the occurrence of repletes in at least eight genera across three subfamilies (Formicinae, Dolichoderinae, and Myrmicinae). We also identify four genera with putative honeypot species that remain poorly studied, and clarify cases of misidentification, where repletism has been confused with other internal storage strategies such as worker corpulence, trophic eggs, or thoracic crop expansion. We propose that repletism occurs along a spectrum across species, reflecting both morphological specialization and behavioral flexibility. In this review, we also demonstrate the global distribution of this extreme adaptation. Finally, we highlight future research directions into factors driving convergence of repletism, and mechanisms and potential microbial interactions underlying this adaptation.

Open access, licensed under CC BY 4.0. © 2026 The Author(s).

Worker specialization, convergent evolution, storage strategy, Hymenoptera, Formicidae