Inquiline social parasites as tools to unlock the secrets of insect sociality.

ABSTRACT: 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 far from understanding how insect societies have evolved and how social cohesion in their colonies is maintained. Here we suggest inquiline social parasites of insect societies as an under-exploited experimental tool for understanding sociality. We draw on examples from obligate inquiline (permanent) social parasites in wasps, ants and bees to illustrate how these parasites may allow us to better understand societies and learn more about the evolution and functioning of insect societies. We highlight three main features of these social parasite-host systems-namely, close phylogenetic relationships, s

SUBMITTER: Cini A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6388031 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature