Social insects and social amoebae

Gadagkar, Raghavendra and Bonner, J (1994) Social insects and social amoebae. In: Journal of Biosciences, 19 (2). pp. 219-245.

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Abstract

The evolution of social groupings in insects, especially wasps, is compared to that of social amoebae (cellular slime moulds). They both show a gamut of colony sizes, from solitary forms to complex colonies with a division of labour. The various ideas as to how there might have been an evolution of complexity within insect societies, such as the role of genetic relatedness, the role of mutualism, the origin of sterility, the manipulation and exploitation of some individuals by others within a colony, are discussed, and then applied to socia! amocbae. The result is both interesting and instructive: despite some differences, there are many striking parallels, which suggests that there are some common denominators in the formation and evolution of a social existence among organisms.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Biosciences
Publisher:	Indian Academy of Sciences
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Keywords:	Social insects;Social amoebae;Ropalidia Marginata; Dictyostelium discoideum;Evolution of group living
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	30 Nov 2007
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:34
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/9476

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