Behaviour and Social Evolution of Wasps: The Communal Aggregation Hypothesis (Oxford Series in Ecology & Evolution) - Hardcover

Ito, Yosiaki

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198546831 ISBN 13: 9780198546832

Verlag: Oxford University Press, 1993

Inhaltsangabe

Book by It Yosiaki

Über diesen Titel

Reseña del editor

In this book, Yosiaki Ito presents data on tropical wasps which suggests that kin-selection has been over-emphasized as an evolutionary explanation of sociality. He concentrates on the Vespidae (paper wasps and hornets), a group much discussed by evolutionary biologists because it exhibits all stages of social evolution - subsociality, primitive eusociality and advanced eusociality. The author reports field observations by himself and others in Central America, Asia and Australia, showing that multiple egg-layers in a nest are not uncommon. Because coexistence of many "queens" leads to lower relatedness among colony members than in single-queen colonies, he suggests that kin-selection may not be the most powerful force determining observed social patterns. Instead, subsocial wasps may first have aggregated for defence purposes in habitats with a high risk of predation, with mutualistic associations among many queens. Through parental manipulation and then kin-selection, differentiation into within-generation castes may have followed. This study should be of interest to students of ecology, evolution and behaviour.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0198546831
• ISBN 13: 9780198546832
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 167