Ancestral Monogamy Shows Kin Selection Is Key to the Evolution of Eusociality

@article{Hughes2008AncestralMS,
  title={Ancestral Monogamy Shows Kin Selection Is Key to the Evolution of Eusociality},
  author={William O. H. Hughes and Benjamin P. Oldroyd and Madeleine Beekman and Francis L. W. Ratnieks},
  journal={Science},
  year={2008},
  volume={320},
  pages={1213 - 1216},
  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:20388889}
}
It is found that mating with a single male, which maximizes relatedness, is ancestral for all eight independent eusocial lineages that are investigated, and monogamy was critical in the evolution of eussociality, strongly supporting the prediction of inclusive fitness theory.
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632 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
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Background Citations
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Methods Citations
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Results Citations
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632 Citations

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26 References

Kin Selection versus Sexual Selection: Why the Ends Do Not Meet

Advanced eusociality, kin selection and male haploidy

It is suggested that sex allocation is deep at the heart of the evolution of hymenopteran advanced eusociality, indicating the interacting roles of population genetics and general biology, and that relatedness is deeply intertwined with ecology so that both are essential.

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It is concluded that both phylogenetic studies and studies of intra-genomic conflict support the importance of pedigree relatedness in the evolution of eusociality.

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Several lines of evidence are examined, examined here, suggest that collateral kin selection does not play a significant role in the approach to eusociality in the Hymenoptera and that group selection immediately acts on key emergent traits arising from interactions of the group members.

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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…

New evidence for eusociality in the sphecid wasp Microstigmus comes

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A phylogeny of Vespidae based on data from four nuclear gene fragments and representatives from all six extant subfamilies indicates two independent origins of vespid eusociality, once in the clade Polistinae+Vespinae andonce in the Stenogastrinae.