1. Introduction: The Anomaly in the Dark In the canon of subterranean biology, the distinction between the surface world and the deep cave is typically defined by scarcity. Subterranean ecosystems are often characterized as energy-limited environments, oligotrophic deserts where specialized life forms—troglobites—eke out a precarious existence on the meager detritus that filters down from the sunlit world above. They are realms of silence, slow metabolism, and low population

Abstract The maintenance of eusociality in the Formicidae relies upon a delicate, evolutionarily stabilized equilibrium of chemical communication, kin recognition, and the absolute reproductive primacy of the queen. In the vast majority of ant societies, the queen represents the genetic future of the colony, protected by a workforce of sterile daughters whose inclusive fitness depends entirely on her survival. However, recent investigations into the colony-founding strategies