Only full-sibling families evolved eusociality

Jacobus J. Boomsma (), Madeleine Beekman, Charlie K. Cornwallis, Ashleigh S. Griffin, Luke Holman, William O. H. Hughes, Laurent Keller, Benjamin P. Oldroyd and Francis L. W. Ratnieks
Additional contact information
Jacobus J. Boomsma: Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen
Madeleine Beekman: Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Lab, School of Biological Sciences A12, University of Sydney
Charlie K. Cornwallis: University of Oxford
Ashleigh S. Griffin: University of Oxford
Luke Holman: Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen
William O. H. Hughes: Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Miall Building, University of Leeds
Laurent Keller: Biophore, University of Lausanne
Benjamin P. Oldroyd: Behaviour and Genetics of Social Insects Lab, School of Biological Sciences A12, University of Sydney
Francis L. W. Ratnieks: Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer

Nature, 2011, vol. 471, issue 7339, E4-E5

Abstract: Abstract Arising from M. A. Nowak, C. E. Tarnita & E. O. Wilson Nature 466, 1057–1062 (2010)10.1038/nature09205 ; Nowak et al. reply The paper by Nowak et al.1 has the evolution of eusociality as its title, but it is mostly about something else. It argues against inclusive fitness theory and offers an alternative modelling approach that is claimed to be more fundamental and general, but which, we believe, has no practical biological meaning for the evolution of eusociality. Nowak et al.1 overlook the robust empirical observation that eusociality has only arisen in clades where mothers are associated with their full-sibling offspring; that is, in families where the average relatedness of offspring to siblings is as high as to their own offspring, independent of population structure or ploidy. We believe that this omission makes the paper largely irrelevant for understanding the evolution of eusociality.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09832

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