Evolution in social insects

We examined the fate of experimentally immune-challenged worker honeybees that had been reintroduced to the hive. We find that they often leave the hive, both by ‘altruistically’ leaving under their own power, and by being dragged out by other workers. Using a chemical transfer experiment, we show that the latter response is mediated by chemicals present on the body surface of immune challenged workers.

Many ants, bees, and wasps use similar or identical chemicals as queen pheromones, even though these taxa diverged >150MYA, and evolved eusociality independently. Here, we use mRNA sequencing to identify queen pheromone-sensitive genes in 4 ant and bee species, and show that pheromones affect many of the same transcriptional modules. Pheromone-sensitive genes tend to be ancient, positively selected, peripheral in transcriptomic networks, hypomethylated, and caste-specific in their expression.

The breeding and non-breeding ‘castes’ of eusocial insects provide a striking example of role-specific selection, where each caste …

In a recent study, Amsalem, Orlova & Grozinger (2015) performed experiments with Bombus impatiens bumblebees to test the hypothesis …

The major transition to eusociality required the evolution of a switch to canalize development into either a reproductive or a helper, …

Queen pheromones mediate the reproductive division of labor in social insect colonies and provide novel opportunities for investigating …

DNA methylation is emerging as an important regulator of polyphenism in the social insects. Research has concentrated on differences in …

Queen pheromones are among the most important chemical messages regulating insect societies yet they remain largely undiscovered, …

Queen pheromones are chemical signals produced by reproductive individuals in social insect colonies. In many species they are key to …

Eusocial insects exhibit reproductive division of labour, in which one or a few queens perform almost all of the reproduction, while …

The nonreproductive helpers of many arthropod, bird and mammal species are a perennial puzzle for evolutionary biologists. Theory and …

A major evolutionary transition to eusociality with reproductive division of labor between queens and workers has arisen independently …

Reproductive skew theory seeks to explain how reproduction is divided among group members in animal societies. Existing theory is …

Organisms are predicted to behave more favourably towards relatives, and kin-biased cooperation has been found in all domains of life …

The ultimate causes of honest signaling remain a subject of debate, with questions remaining over the relative importance of costs and …

Communication between organisms involves visual, auditory, and olfactory pathways. In solitary insects, chemical recognition cues are …

Social organisms have evolved diverse and complex regulatory mechanisms that allow them to coordinate group-level functions. Signals …

Signal costs and evolutionary constraints have both been proposed as ultimate explanations for the ubiquity of honest signaling, but …

Sperm competition can produce fascinating adaptations with far‐reaching evolutionary consequences. Social taxa make particularly …

Social animals use recognition cues to discriminate between group members and non-members. These recognition cues may be conceptualized …

The paper by Nowak et al. has the evolution of eusociality as its title, but it is mostly about something else. It argues against …

Group-living species produce signals that alter the behavior and even the physiology of their social partners. Social insects possess …

The selective forces that shape and maintain eusocial societies are an enduring puzzle in evolutionary biology. Ordinarily sterile …

Social insects offer unique opportunities to test predictions regarding the evolution of cooperation, life histories and communication. …