Insect societies fight back: the evolution of defensive traits against social parasites

C Grüter, E Jongepier, S Foitzik - … Transactions of the …, 2018‏ - royalsocietypublishing.org
Insect societies face many social parasites that exploit their altruistic behaviours or their
resources. Due to the fitness costs these social parasites incur, hosts have evolved various …

Vitellogenin-like A–associated shifts in social cue responsiveness regulate behavioral task specialization in an ant

P Kohlmeier, B Feldmeyer, S Foitzik - PLoS biology, 2018‏ - journals.plos.org
Division of labor and task specialization explain the success of human and insect societies.
Social insect colonies are characterized by division of labor, with workers specializing in …

Workload distribution and division of labor in cooperative societies

MG Smith, C Riehl - The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2022‏ - journals.uchicago.edu
Cooperative groups are ubiquitous in animals, as are the challenges of allocating labor to
accomplish cooperative tasks, including territory defense, hunting, and brood care …

Changing of the guard: mixed specialization and flexibility in nest defense (Tetragonisca angustula)

KM Baudier, MM Ostwald, C Grüter… - Behavioral …, 2019‏ - academic.oup.com
Task allocation is a central challenge of collective behavior in a variety of group-living
species, and this is particularly the case for the allocation of social insect workers for group …

When being flexible matters: Ecological underpinnings for the evolution of collective flexibility and task allocation

M Staps, CE Tarnita - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022‏ - pnas.org
Task allocation is a central feature of collective organization. Living collective systems, such
as multicellular organisms or social insect colonies, have evolved diverse ways to allocate …

Effect of temperature and social environment on worker size in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi

M Molet, R Péronnet, S Couette, C Canovas… - Journal of Thermal …, 2017‏ - Elsevier
Warm temperatures decrease insect developmental time and body size. Social life could
buffer external environmental variations, especially in large social groups, either through …

Ant behaviour and brain gene expression of defending hosts depend on the ecological success of the intruding social parasite

R Kaur, M Stoldt, E Jongepier… - … of the Royal …, 2019‏ - royalsocietypublishing.org
The geographical mosaic theory of coevolution predicts that species interactions vary
between locales. Depending on who leads the coevolutionary arms race, the effectivity of …

Social influence and interaction bias can drive emergent behavioural specialization and modular social networks across systems

CK Tokita, CE Tarnita - Journal of the Royal Society …, 2020‏ - royalsocietypublishing.org
In social systems ranging from ant colonies to human society, behavioural specialization—
consistent individual differences in behaviour—is commonplace: individuals can specialize …

Comparative analyses of co-evolving host-parasite associations reveal unique gene expression patterns underlying slavemaker raiding and host defensive …

A Alleman, B Feldmeyer, S Foitzik - Scientific reports, 2018‏ - nature.com
The transition to parasitism is a drastic shift in lifestyle, involving rapid changes in gene
structure, function, and expression. After the establishment of antagonistic relationships …

Size variation does not act as insurance in bumble bees; instead, workers add weight in an unpredictable environment

EP Kelemen, G Davidowitz, A Dornhaus - Animal Behaviour, 2020‏ - Elsevier
Complex systems (eg eusocial insect colonies) exhibit emergent behaviours as a result of
the interactions of their components. These components often vary in several traits. Such …