Social insects

Bumblebee size polymorphism and worker response to queen pheromone
Queen pheromones are chemical signals produced by reproductive individuals in social insect colonies. In many species they are key to …
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Bumblebee size polymorphism and worker response to queen pheromone
Cuticular lipids correlate with age and insemination status in queen honeybees
Eusocial insects exhibit reproductive division of labour, in which one or a few queens perform almost all of the reproduction, while …
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Conditional helping and evolutionary transitions to eusociality and cooperative breeding
The nonreproductive helpers of many arthropod, bird and mammal species are a perennial puzzle for evolutionary biologists. Theory and …
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Conditional helping and evolutionary transitions to eusociality and cooperative breeding
Conserved class of queen pheromones stops social insect workers from reproducing
A major evolutionary transition to eusociality with reproductive division of labor between queens and workers has arisen independently …
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Conserved class of queen pheromones stops social insect workers from reproducing
Caste load and the evolution of reproductive skew
Reproductive skew theory seeks to explain how reproduction is divided among group members in animal societies. Existing theory is …
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Caste load and the evolution of reproductive skew
Crozier’s paradox revisited: maintenance of genetic recognition systems by disassortative mating
Organisms are predicted to behave more favourably towards relatives, and kin-biased cooperation has been found in all domains of life …
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Crozier’s paradox revisited: maintenance of genetic recognition systems by disassortative mating
Cuticular chemistry of males and females in the ant Formica fusca
Communication between organisms involves visual, auditory, and olfactory pathways. In solitary insects, chemical recognition cues are …
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Are queen ants inhibited by their own pheromone? Regulation of productivity via negative feedback
Social organisms have evolved diverse and complex regulatory mechanisms that allow them to coordinate group-level functions. Signals …
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Costs and constraints conspire to produce honest signaling: insights from an ant queen pheromone
Signal costs and evolutionary constraints have both been proposed as ultimate explanations for the ubiquity of honest signaling, but …
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Random sperm use and genetic effects on worker caste fate in Atta colombica leaf‐cutting ants
Sperm competition can produce fascinating adaptations with far‐reaching evolutionary consequences. Social taxa make particularly …
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