Division of labour is a common feature of social groups, from biofilms to complex animal
societies. However, we lack a theoretical framework that can explain why division of labour …

Inclusive fitness theory attempts to explain the evolution of social behavior at the level of the
individual. The inclusive fitness of an individual is defined as the sum of all the effects this …

In some species, permanent curtailment of reproduction part‐way through the lifespan of
adult females is a feature of their evolved life history. The existence of such a post …

It is generally assumed that Cretaceous stem ants were obligately eusocial, because of the
presence of wingless adult females, yet the available evidence is ambiguous. Here, we …

Explaining the origin of eusociality, with strict division of labour between workers and
reproductives, remains one of evolutionary biology's greatest challenges. Specific …

In the field of social evolution, inclusive fitness theory has been successful in making a wide
range of qualitative predictions on expected patterns of cooperation and conflict …

Highlights•Criticisms of inclusive fitness theory have consistently been shown to be
incorrect.•Understanding causality is helpful for resolving between competing …

Monogamy is associated with sibling-directed altruism in multiple animal taxa, including
insects, birds and mammals. Inclusive-fitness theory readily explains this pattern by …

Highlights•Inclusive fitness provides a framework and a tool for analysing social
evolution.•Recent work defines point of occurrence of, and conditions for, a major …

A trademark of eusocial insect species is reproductive division of labor, in which workers
forego their own reproduction while the queen produces almost all offspring. The presence …