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Society - a group of individuals of the same species organized in a cooperative manner
Solitary -
Subsocial I - mother and daughters live in same nest
Subsocial II - mother and daughters live in same nest and cooperate - seen in thrips and aphids, where "soldiers" guard colonies
Parasocial
Communal
Quasisocial - adults of one generation use a composite nest and cooperate in brood care - halicitid bees, spiders
Semisocial - same as quasisocial but some work and others reproduce (castes) -
Eusocial
Eusociality can be reached via Subsocial II or Semisocial stages
Termites, wasps, bees, ants (Wilson 1971)
Aphids (Aoki 1987)
Weevils (Anon. 1992)
Thrips (Crespi 1992)
two species of Oncothrips live in galls on Acacia
macropterous foundresses start galls
first offspring are micropterous, mostly female
micros defend gall against invading insects
in experiments, died fighting inquiline Koptothrips
probably don’t reproduce
Foundresses’ brood of macro adults emerge later and fly off to start new galls next season (one species may reuse gall - one macro daughter stays)
Austroplatypus incompertus - Australian, similar to thrips, live in wood
One fertile female, ~5 sterile, defend, enlarge galleries
Tribe Polistini
Queens overwinter
Nest one or several together; one dominates others, reproduces more
Queens & nestmates rear brood of workers, who hunt insects and feed brood
Males and new queens reared mostly in fall
close relation to roaches
cellulose feeders; build nests in and of cellulose in ground or carton nests in trees
symbiosis with microbes, fungi
all ~2300 species eusocial
sociality evolved from microbe sharing
male and female reproductives; winged - mass mating flights; lose wings; construct cell in ground (Reticulitermes)
mate periodically; colonies may last up to 25yr(?)
female abdomen greatly enlarged (100mm) can lay 1 egg/sec for 24hrs
may have supplemental reproductives in colony
if queen dies, king excretes substance that induces females to reproduce
pseudergates - can transform into reproductives
workers
immature (no eyes, wings, pigments)
male or female in advanced forms
in Reticulitermes, isolated workers can become reproductive
soldiers
may be male or female
highly specialized for defense
wasps that feed young pollen, nectar, sap, honey
solitary to eusocial
Halictus - sweat bees
mass underground nests
minimal cooperation
little queen/worker dimorphism
if foundress dies, "oligarchy" of daughters lays eggs
Bumble bees
queens start colonies in spring
use old mouse nests, etc.
build wax egg cells and honey pots
puts pollen ball in egg cell
first brood - workers
feed larvae directly or by provisioning
100-400 workers in colony by late summer
males and queens produced and disperse in late summer
Honeybees
perennial colonies
20 - 80,000 workers
collect pollen and nectar, wax
construct brood cells and feed young
royal cells produce new queens and drones - receive special food
colonies reproduce by swarming
primary swarm
old queen leaves with workers
new queens may fight to death on emergence or be driven out
workers urge new queens out on mass mating flights
male explodes on mating
queen may make up to a dozen flights (3-4/day)
after swarms
mated new queens if not killed by the one who remains
kin selection
importance of haplodiploidy - hymenoptera, thrips
produces close relation among daughters
helping queen propagates own genes
parental manipulation of offspring
intraspecific competition and nest takeover - soldiers - see papers on termites