More than a century ago, William Morton Wheeler proposed that social insect colonies can
be regarded as superorganisms when they have morphologically differentiated reproductive …

The evolutionary origins of the three major families of chemoreceptors in arthropods—the
odorant receptor (OR), gustatory receptor (GR), and ionotropic receptor (IR) families …

Summary The stinging wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) are an extremely diverse lineage of
hymenopteran insects, encompassing over 70,000 described species and a diversity of life …

DNA methylation contributes to gene and transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes, and
therefore has been hypothesized to facilitate the evolution of plastic traits such as sociality in …

Life on Earth has evolved from initial simplicity to the astounding complexity we experience
today. Bacteria and archaea have largely excelled in metabolic diversification, but …

Around 150 million years ago, eusocial termites evolved from within the cockroaches, 50
million years before eusocial Hymenoptera, such as bees and ants, appeared. Here, we …

Two increasingly popular approaches to reconstruct the Tree of Life involve whole
transcriptome sequencing and the target capture of ultraconserved elements (UCEs). Both …

Phenotypic plasticity is important in adaptation and shapes the evolution of organisms.
However, we understand little about what aspects of the genome are important in facilitating …

The evolution of eusociality in Hymenoptera—encompassing bees, ants, and wasps—is
characterized by multiple gains and losses of social living, making this group a prime model …

The hypothesis that eusociality originated once in Vespidae has shaped interpretation of
social evolution for decades and has driven the supposition that preimaginal …