How complex insect societies evolved without monogamy via manipulation by mothers

What is it about?

Eusocial insects, such as some bees, wasps, and ants, have evolved a complex social system in which typically one female queen reproduces whilst the rest of the colony does not. Traditionally, it was thought that these queens must have only mated with a single male (monogamy), since this ensures that her offspring are highly related to each other, and therefore they would be more willing to help raise the queen's offspring (i.e., their siblings) instead of having their own offspring. In a model, we here show that whilst relatedness between workers is helpful for eusociality to evolve, it is not strictly necessary. In fact, eusociality can evolve when a queen mates with multiple males, if she feeds her offspring less resources such that they are smaller and would not be very successful at reproducing independently. They are therefore manipulated into helping by their mother.

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Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash

Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash