The evolution of eusociality is a perennial issue in evolutionary biology, and genomic
advances have fueled steadily growing interest in the genetic changes underlying social …

Study of social traits in offspring traditionally reflects on interactions in simple family groups,
with famous examples including parent-offspring conflict and sibling rivalry in birds and …

INTRODUCTION Eusocial insects, such as ants, live a communal lifestyle within colonies of
close genetic relatives. Colony members are organized into castes defined by behavioral …

Polyphenism is a type of developmental plasticity that translates continuous environmental
variability into discontinuous phenotypes. Such discontinuity likely requires a switch …

Ant colonies are higher-level organisms consisting of specialized reproductive and non-
reproductive individuals that differentiate early in development, similar to germ–soma …

Eusocial Hymenoptera have the highest recombination rates among all multicellular animals
studied so far, but it is unclear why this is and how this affects the biology of individual …

The major transition to eusociality required the evolution of a switch to canalize development
into either a reproductive or a helper, the nature of which is currently unknown. Following …

Ants are important components of most terrestrial habitats, and a better knowledge of the
diversity of their life histories is essential to understand many aspects of ecosystem …

A central goal of biology is to uncover the genetic basis for the origin of new phenotypes. A
particularly effective approach is to examine the genomic architecture of species that have …

In eusocial Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps), queen and worker adult castes typically
arise via environmental influences. A fundamental challenge is to understand how a single …