Peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and other academic outputs from the lab — every entry includes Seirian Sumner as an author, which is what scopes this list to work connected to the lab, rather than the wider personal publication record of anyone who has passed through it (see individual people pages for that).

2026

• Robertson DK, Vale-Hagan W, Stratakos AC, Doran O, Drinkwater E, Wu X, Miller ME, Davies L, Lange KL, Nakamura Y, Benny FE, Sumner S, Koidis A, Stergiadis S, Theodoridou K. An updated review of the opportunities and challenges in insects as food and feed. (accepted) Nutrition Bulletin
• Onah I, Ahmed Yusuf A, Bastos A, and Sumner S.  2026 ‘Diversity of Stingless Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from Two Contrasting Climatic Regions of Nigeria’. (accepted). Journal of Apicultural Research.
• Cunningham-Eurich I, Aucock L, Walters-Hutton B, Sumner S and Broad G. Moth traps shine a light on nocturnal wasps. (accepted). Insect Diversity and Conservation.
• Sumner S, Cunningham-Eurich I & Sturm U. 2026 In praise of parasitoids: how public engagement and citizen science can be used to improve the perceptions of an overlooked taxon. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 7: 101553  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101553
• Bell EF, Wyatt CRD, Taylor D, Radford AN and Sumner S.  2026.Limits to behavioural plasticity in tropical paper wasps. Proceedings of The Royal Society B. 293: 20260252. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2026.0252
• Corbett O, Dreier S, Lengronne T, Patalano S, Reuter M, and Sumner S. 2026. ‘Compensation of labour by non-competing workers mitigates costs of aggression-based queen succession in the social wasp, Polistes canadensis. Animal Behaviour 123581 http://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123581

2025

• Devenish, A.J.M., Newton, R.J., Midgley, J.J., Colville, L., Bridle, J., Sumner, S. 2025. Mutualistic interactions facilitate invasive species spread. Functional Ecology, 39 (1), 254-267.
• Corbett O., Dreier S, Lengronne T, Patalano S, Reuter M, and Sumner S.  Compensation of labour by non-competing workers mitigates costs of aggression-based queen succession in the social wasp, Polistes canadensis. Accepted. Animal Behaviour
• Sumner S. and Adams I. 2025 The Wonderful World of Wasps. Frontiers for Young Minds. http://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2025.1632173
• Drinkwater R., Law G., Bellekom B., Brown R.L., Symondson W.O.C., Clare E.L. and Sumner S. 2025. Metabarcoding of larval guts reveals diet diversity in native apex predators – the yellowjacket wasps Vespula vulgaris andVespula germanica. Insectes Sociaux https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-025-01058-6
• Tcheutchoua R., Cuff J.P., Sumner S.  2025. High-throughput wasp larvae gut content metabarcoding. protocols.io https://www.protocols.io/view/high-throughput-wasp-larvae-gut-content-metabarcod-eq2lyxzmpgx9/v1
• Toth AL, Wyatt C.D.R., Masonbrink R.E., Geist K.S., Fortune R., Scott S.B., Favreau E., Rehan S.M., Sumner S., Gardiner M.M., Sivakoff F.S.. 2024. New Genomic Resources Inform Transcriptomic Responses to Heavy Metal Toxins in the Common Eastern Bumble Bee Bombus impatiens. BMC Genomics 25. 1106  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-11040-4

2024

• Toth, A.L., Wyatt, C.D.R., Masonbrink, R.E., Geist, K.S., Fortune, R., Scott, S.B., Favreau, E., Rehan, S.M., Sumner, S., Gardiner, M.M., Sivakoff, F.S. 2025. New genomic resources inform transcriptomic responses to heavy metal toxins in the Eastern bumble bee Bombus impatiens. BMC Genomics, 25 (1), 1106.
• Oi, C.A., Brown, R.L. & Sumner, S. Bee-Ing positive about wasp-negative media reporting: the opinions of scientists and their influence on the media. Insect. Soc. 71, 29–42 (2024).
• Taylor, B. A., Taylor, D., Bodrug-Schepers, A., Câmara Ferreira, F., Stralis-Pavese, N.,Himmelbauer, H., Guigó, R., Reuter, M., & Sumner, S. 2024. Molecular signatures of alternative reproductive strategies in a facultatively social hover wasp. Molecular Ecology, 33, e17217.

2023

• Manfredini F., Wurm Y., Sumner S., Leadbeater E. 2023. Transcriptomic responses to location learning by honeybee dancers are partly mirrored in the brains of dance-followers. Proc. R. Soc. B290:20232274
• Cunningham-Eurich, I., Kontou, D., Yordanova, M., Maeda-Obregon, A., Favreau, E., Wang, J. et al. 2023. Using citizen science data to assess the population genetic structure of the common yellowjacket wasp, Vespula vulgaris. Insect Molecular Biology, 1–14
• Favreau E, Cini A, Taylor D. et al. 2023. Putting hornets on the genomic map. Sci Rep 13, 6232
• Sumner S, Favreau E, Geist K, Toth A L, Rehan S M. 2023. Molecular patterns and processes in evolving sociality: lessons from insects. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 378: 20220076
• Wyatt C D R, Bentley M A, Taylor D. et al. 2023. Social complexity, life-history and lineage influence the molecular basis of castes in vespid wasps. Nat Commun 14, 1046.
• Favreau E, Geist K S, Wyatt C D R, Toth A L, Sumner S, Rehan S M. 2023. Co-expression Gene Networks and Machine-learning Algorithms Unveil a Core Genetic Toolkit for Reproductive Division of Labour in Rudimentary Insect Societies. Genome Biology and Evolution,15(1), evac174

2022

• Patalano S, Alsina A, Gregorio-Rodríguez C, Bachman M, Dreier S, Hernando-Herraez I, Nana P, Balasubramanian S, Sumner S, Reik W, Rulands S, Self-organization of plasticity and specialization in a primitively social insect, Cell Systems, 13(9), 2022, 768-779

2021

• Perry J R, Sumner S, Thompson C, Hart A G. 2021. ‘Citizen identification’: online learning supports highly accurate species identification for insect-focussed citizen science. Insect Conservation and Diversity. 14(6), 862-867
• Detoni M, Feás X, Jeanne R L, Loope K J, O’Donnell S, Santoro D, Sumner S, Jandt J M, 2021. Evolutionary and Ecological Pressures Shaping Social Wasps Collective Defenses, Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 114, 5(1), 581–595
• Lengronne T, Mlynski D, Patalano S, James R, Keller L, Sumner S. 2021 Multi-level social organisation and nest-drifting behaviour in a eusocial insect. Proc. R. Soc. B-Biological Sci. 33927238.
• Brock RE, Cini A, Sumner S. 2021. Ecosystem Services Provided by Aculeate Wasps. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society  96 (4), 1645-1675
• Devenish A, Newton R, Bridle J, Gómez C, Midgley JJ, Sumner S. 2021. Contrasting Responses of Native Ant Communities to Invasion by an Ant Invader, Linepithema Humile. Biological Invasions 23, 2553-2571
• Jonsson, GM., Broad GR, Sumner S, Isaac NJB. 2021. A Century of Social Wasp Occupancy Trends from Natural History Collections: Spatiotemporal Resolutions Have Little Effect on Model Performance. Insect Conservation and Diversity (DOI:10.1111/icad.12494)
• Revely L, Sumner S, Eggleton P. 2021. The Plasticity and Developmental Potential of Termites. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9:1–13
• Kennedy P, Sumner S, Botha P, Welton NJ, Higginson AD, Radford AN. 2021. Diminishing Returns Drive Altruists to Help Extended Family. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 10.1038/s41559-020-01382-z
• Taylor BA, Cini A, Wyatt, CDR, Reuter M, Sumner S. 2021. The Molecular Basis of Socially Mediated Phenotypic Plasticity in a Eusocial Paper Wasp. Nature Communications 12:775.

2020

• Detoni M, Feás X, Jeanne RL, Loope KJ, O. Donnell S, Santoro D, Sumner S, Jandt JM. 2020. Evolutionary and Ecological Pressures Shaping Social Wasps Collective Defenses. Annals of the Entomological Society of America (X):1–15
• Southon RJ, Radford AN, Sumner S. (2020) Hormone mediated dispersal and sexual maturation in males of the social paper wasp Polistes lanio. Journal of Experimental Biology 223: jeb226472
• Highfield A, Kevill J, Mordecai G, Hunt J, Henderson S, Sauvard D, Feltwell, J., Martin, S., Sumner, S., Schroeder, D. (2020) Detection and replication of Moku virus in honey bees and social wasps. Viruses. 2020; 12(607): 4-11
• Southon RJ, Radford AN, Sumner S. (2020) High reproductive skew in the Neotropical paper wasp Polistes lanio. Insectes Sociaux 67: 451-456
• Taylor, B.A., Cini, A., Cervo, R., Reuter, M, Sumner. S. (2020) Queen succession conflict in the paper wasp Polistes dominula is mitigated by age-based convention. Behavioural Ecology 31 (4): 992-1002
• Cini, A. Branconi, R., Patalano, S., Cervo, R., Sumner, S. (2020) Behavioural and neurogenomic responses of host workers to social parasite invasion in a social insect. Insectes Soc. 67: 295-308
• Onah, I.E. and Sumner, S. (2020) DNA barcodes for nature’s pest controllers: the social wasps. Genome 10.1139/gen-2019-0193
• Sumner, C.J., Sumner, S. (2020) Signal detection: applying analysis methods from psychology to animal behaviour. Philosophical Transactions for the Royal Society, Series B Biological Sciences 375: 1802
• Hart, A.G., Sumner, S. (2020) Marketing Insects: Can Exploiting a Commercial Framework Help Promote Undervalued Insect Species? Insect Conservation and Diversity 13(2): 214-218

2019

• Southon R, Bell E, Graystock P, Wyatt CD, Radford AN, Sumner S. (2019). High indirect fitness benefits for helpers throughout the nesting cycle in tropical paper wasps. Molecular Ecology 10.1111/mec.15137
• Colgan TJ, Carolan JC, Sumner S, Blaxter, ML, Brown, MJF (2019) Infection by the castrating parasitic nematode Sphaerularia bombi changes gene expression in Bombus terrestris bumblebee queens.  Insect Molecular Biology* DOI: 10.1111/imb.12618
• Sumner S, Bevan P, Hart AG, Isaac NJB. (2019) Mapping species distributions in two weeks using citizen science. Insect Conserv. Divers. (online March 2019; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/icad.12345)
• Taylor BA, Reuter M, Sumner S. (2019) Patterns of reproductive differentiation and reproductive plasticity in the major evolutionary transition to superorganismality. Curr. Opin. Insect Sci.  in press
• Cini, A., Sumner, S. & Cervo, R. (2019) Inquiline social parasites as tools to unlock the secrets of insect sociality. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 374, 20180193.

2018

• Devenish, A., Gómez, C., Bridle, J., Newton, R. & Sumner, S. (2018). Invasive ants: ill-fitting partners in an ant-plant mutualism. Biological Invasions. 10.1007/s10530-018-1829-6.
• Sumner, S., Law, G. & Cini, A. (2018) Why we love bees and hate wasps. Ecological Entomology, 43, 836–845 http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/een.12676.
• Miller, S.E., Bluher, S.E., Bell, E., Cini, A., Carvalho, R., Souza, R. De, et al. Sumner, S., Toth, A.L., Tibbetts, E.A. and Sheehan, M.J. (2018) WASPnest: a worldwide assessment of social Polistine nesting behavior. Ecology, 10–12.
• Nehring, C., Dijkstra, M.B., Sumner, S., Hughes, W.O.H., & Boomsma, J.J. (2018). Reconstructing the relatedness of cooperatively breeding queens in the Panamanian leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News in press
• Taylor, D., Bentley, M., Sumner, S. (2018) Social wasps as models to study the major evolutionary transition to superorganismality Current Opinion in Insect Science 28, 26–32
• Sumner, S., Bell, E. & Taylor, D. (2018) A molecular concept of caste in insect societies. Curr. Opin. Insect Sci. 25: 42–50
• Kennedy, P., Higginson, A., Radford, A.N. & Sumner, S. (2018) Altruism in a volatile world. Nature 555, 359-362
• Manfredini, F., Romero, A.E., Pedroso, I., Paccanaro, A., Sumner, S.*, Brown, M.J.F.* (2017) Neurogenomic signatures of successes and failures in core life-history transitions in a key insect pollinator. Genome Biology and Evolution 9(11), 3059-3072. (*equally contributing authors)

2017

• Kennedy, P. et al. (12 authors) and Sumner. S (2017) Deconstructing superorganisms and societies to address big questions in biology. Trends Ecol. Evol. 32 (11), 861-872. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.08.004
• Carvell, C. et al. (including Sumner S.) (2017). Bumblebee family lineage survival is enhanced in high quality landscapes. Nature 543(7646):547-549.

2016

• Toth, AL., Sumner S. & Jeanne, RL. 2016. “Patterns of Longevity across a Sociality Gradient in Vespid Wasps.” Current Opinion in Insect Science 16. Elsevier Inc: 28–35. doi:10.1016/j.cois.2016.05.006.
• Kern, Julie M., Seirian Sumner, and Andrew N. Radford. 2016. “Sentinel Dominance Status Influences Forager Use of Social Information.” Behavioral Ecology 00: arv240. doi:10.1093/beheco/arv240.

2015

• King AJ, Myatt JP, Furtbauer I, Oesch N, Dunbar RIM, Sumner S, et al (9 authors). (2015) Social density processes regulate the functioning and performance of foraging human teams. Scientific Reports 18260; doi:10.1038/srep18260.
• Patalano S, Vlasova A, Wyatt C, Ewels P, Camara F, Ferreira PG, et al. Molecular signatures of plastic phenotypes in two eusocial insect species with simple societies. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2015; 1–6. doi:10.1073/pnas.1515937112
• Redhead JW, Dreier S, Bourke AFG, Heard MS, Jordan WC, Sumner S, Wang J, Carvell C. (2015) Effects of habitat composition and landscape structure on worker foraging distances of five bumblebee species. Ecological Applications 2015; accepted. http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/15-0546.1
• Southon R, Bell E, Graystock P, Sumner S (2015) Long live the wasp: adult longevity in captive colonies of the eusocial paper wasp Polistes canadensis (L.). PeerJ, 3:e848; DOI 10.7717/peerj.848.
• Sadd B et al (103 other Authors incl Sumner S.) (2015). The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organisation. Genome Biology.  16:76  doi:10.1186/s13059-015-0623-3
• Cini A, Patalano S, Segonds-Pichon A, Busby G, Cervo R, Sumner S. (2015) Social parasitism and the molecular basis of phenotypic evolution. Frontiers in Genetics, 6, 1–11. http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fgene.2015.00032/abstract

2014

• Grainger DP, Asher CL, Jones JC et al. (2014) A novel method of assessing dominance hierarchies shows nuance, linearity and stability in the dinosaur ant Dinoponera quadriceps. Ethology, DOI: 10.1111/eth.12280.
• Warren I, Ciborowski KL, Casadei E, Hazlerigg, DG, Martin, SAM, Jordan, JC., Sumner, S. (2014) Extensive local gene duplication and functional divergence among paralogs as a route to phenotypic plasticity in Atlantic salmon. Genome Biol Evol, doi:10.1093/gbe/evu131.
• Ferguson-Gow, H, Sumner, S, Bourke, AFG & Jones, KE 2014, ‘Colony size predicts division of labour in attine ants’.Proceedings of the Royal Society B – Biological Sciences, vol 281.
• Dreier, S, Redhead, JW, Warren, IA, Bourke, AFG, Heard, MS, Jordan, WC, Sumner, S, Wang, J & Carvell, C 2014, ‘Fine-scale spatial genetic structure of common and declining bumble bees across an agricultural landscape’. Molecular Ecology, vol 23., pp. 3384-95
• Sumner, S 2014, ‘The importance of genomic novelty in social evolution’. Molecular Ecology, vol 23., pp. 26-8

2013

• Ferreira, PG, Patalano, S, Chauhan, R, Ffrench-Constant, R, Gabaldon, T, Guigo, R & Sumner, S 2013, ‘Transcriptome analyses of primitively eusocial wasps reveal novel insights into the evolution of sociality and the origin of alternative phenotypes’. Genome Biology, vol 14., pp. 1-14
• Bell, E & Sumner, S 2013, ‘Ecology and Social Organisation of Wasps’. Nature Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences (online).
• Asher, C, Nascimento, F, Sumner, SR & Hughes, W 2013, ‘Division of labour and risk taking in the dinosaur ant, Dinoponera quadriceps (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)’. Myrmecological News, vol 18., pp. 121-129

2012

• Patalano, S, Hore, TA, Reik, W & Sumner, S 2012, ‘Shifting behaviour: epigenetic reprogramming in eusocial insects.’ Current Opinion in Cell Biology, vol 24., pp. 367-73
• Lengronne, T, Leadbeater, E, Patalano, S, Dreier, S, Field, J, Sumner, S & Keller, L 2012, ‘Little effect of seasonal constraints on population genetic structure in eusocial paper wasps’. Ecology and Evolution, vol 2., pp. 2615-2624
• Sumner, S & Patalano, S 2012, ‘Is the natural world one big soap?’. New Scientist, vol 214., pp. 28-29

2011

• Colgan, TJ, Carolan, JC, Bridgett, SJ, Sumner, S, Blaxter, ML & Brown, MJ 2011, ‘Polyphenism in social insects: insights from a transcriptome-wide analysis of gene expression in the life stages of the key pollinator, Bombus terrestris.’. BMC Genomics, vol 12., pp. 623 Full list on Google Scholar.