Origin of division of labor is decoupled from polymorphism in colonial animals.

ABSTRACT: Division of labor, the specialization of sometimes phenotypically divergent cell types or group members, is often associated with ecological success in eukaryotic colonial organisms. Despite its many independent evolutionary origins, how division of labor emerges remains unclear. Conventional hypotheses tend toward an "economic" model, so that biological division of labor may reflect a partitioning of preexisting tasks and morphologies into specialized colony members. Here, we present an alternative model of the origin of division of labor, which can explain the evolution of new functions within a colony. We show that in colonies of the Cretaceous aged (103-96 Ma) fossil bryozoan of the genus Wilbertopora, the first cheilostome bryozoan to evolve polymorphism, preexisting morphologi

SUBMITTER: Leventhal S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11549686 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature