• DOI:10.1038/35015552
Corpus ID: 4340200

Unrelated helpers in a social insect

@article{Queller2000UnrelatedHI,
  title={Unrelated helpers in a social insect},
  author={D. Queller and F. Zacchi and R. Cervo and S. Turillazzi and M. Henshaw and L. Santorelli and J. Strassmann},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2000},
  volume={405},
  pages={784-787}
}

• D. Queller, F. Zacchi, +4 authors J. Strassmann
• Published 2000
• Biology, Medicine
• Nature

High-resolution genetic markers have revolutionized our understanding of vertebrate mating systems, but have so far yielded few comparable surprises about kinship in social insects. Here we use microsatellite markers to reveal an unexpected and unique social system in what is probably the best-studied social wasp, Polistes dominulus. Social insect colonies are nearly always composed of close relatives; therefore, non-reproductive helping behaviour can be favoured by kin selection, because the… Expand

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