Trophallaxis

Trophallaxis is the transfer of liquid food between social insects, often through mouth-to-mouth exchange. It can also distribute chemical signals and nutrients within a colony.

Regurgitation: The movement of stomach contents back through the mouth. Many ants deliver stored liquid food by regurgitating it to another insect.
Ant colony: A social unit of ants consisting of reproductive individuals and workers living together. Ant colonies use trophallaxis to distribute food among workers and brood.
Eusociality: A social system with cooperative brood care, overlapping generations, and reproductive division of labor. Trophallaxis is one of the cooperative behaviors found in eusocial colonies.
Gut microbiome: The community of microorganisms living in an animal's digestive tract. In some social insects, trophallaxis transfers microbes that help digest food.
Crop (anatomy): A storage chamber in an insect's digestive tract that holds food before digestion. The crop stores much of the liquid passed during trophallaxis.
Brood care: The care and provisioning of eggs, larvae, and pupae by adult insects. Workers can deliver liquid food to larvae through mouth-to-mouth exchange.
Honey bee dance: A movement pattern honey bees use to communicate the location of food sources. Like trophallaxis, the dance helps connect food collection with colony organization.
Pathogen transmission: The spread of infectious agents between hosts or through a population. Shared fluids can carry infectious agents between nestmates.
Antennation: Contact between insects made by touching with their antennae. Antennal movements often accompany exchanges and help elicit food transfer.
Nestmate recognition: The ability of social animals to distinguish members of their own group from outsiders. Exchanged hydrocarbons and other cues can contribute to colony-specific chemical profiles.

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