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 …

Insect societies play a crucial role in the functioning of most ecosystems and have fascinated
both scientists and the lay public for centuries. Despite the long history of study, we are still …

Insect social parasites are characterized by exploiting the hosts' social behaviour. Why
exactly hosts direct their caring behaviour towards these parasites and their offspring …

Social recognition, ie the ability to recognize and assign individual membership to a
particular and relevant class, such as caste, dominance status, gender or colony, shapes the …

The population dynamics of annual social hymenoptera such as vespids depend largely on
the fertility of the foundresses, which, in turn, is a key factor in the context of biological …

Obligate insect social parasites evolve traits to effectively locate and then exploit their hosts,
whereas hosts have complex social behavioral repertoires, which include sensory …

Contrasting phenotypes arise from similar genomes through a combination of losses, gains,
co-option and modifications of inherited genomic material. Understanding the molecular …

In eusocial insects, the high cost of altruistic cooperation between colony members has
favoured the evolution of cheaters that exploit social services of other species. In the most …

Explaining the evolution of hel** behaviour in the eusocial insects where nonreproductive
(“worker”) individuals help raise the offspring of other individuals (“queens”) remains one of …

Temporary social parasite ant queens initiate new colonies by entering colonies of host
species, where they begin laying eggs. As the resident queen can be killed during this …