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Review
. 2005 Sep 20;102(38):13367-71.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0505858102. Epub 2005 Sep 12.

Eusociality: origin and consequences

Edward O Wilson  1 , Bert Hölldobler
Affiliations
Review

Eusociality: origin and consequences

Edward O Wilson et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Erratum in

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Nov 1;102(44):16119

Abstract

In this new assessment of the empirical evidence, an alternative to the standard model is proposed: group selection is the strong binding force in eusocial evolution; individual selection, the strong dissolutive force; and kin selection (narrowly defined), either a weak binding or weak dissolutive force, according to circumstance. Close kinship may be more a consequence of eusociality than a factor promoting its origin. A point of no return to the solitary state exists, as a rule when workers become anatomically differentiated. Eusociality has been rare in evolution, evidently due to the scarcity of environmental pressures adequate to tip the balance among countervailing forces in favor of group selection. Eusociality in ants and termites in the irreversible stage is the key to their ecological dominance and has (at least in ants) shaped some features of internal phylogeny. Their colonies are consistently superior to solitary and preeusocial competitors, due to the altruistic behavior among nestmates and their ability to organize coordinated action by pheromonal communication.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
The two competing hypotheses of the origin of eusociality in insects and thence before the point of no return. The first (A) holds that in the earliest stage, kin selection is binding, making close relatedness a key feature; if combined with group selection, kin selection favors primitively eusocial colonies in a population of solitary or preeusocial insects (far left). The second hypothesis (B), newly presented here, holds in contrast that group selection is paramount as the binding force, and kin selection is minor or absent as a binding force for the group as a whole and weakly dissolutive if it forms competing groups. Relatedness, in hypothesis B, is increased as group selection cleanses the dissolutive nepotisms effect of kin selection. The empirical evidence appears to favor, but does not conclusively prove, B.
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