An insect that cooperates like bacteria.
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| Title: | An insect that cooperates like bacteria. |
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| Authors: | West, Stuart A.1 stuart.west@biology.ox.ac.uk, Griffin, Ashleigh S.1 |
| Source: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 4/14/2026, Vol. 123 Issue 15, p1-3. 3p. |
| Subjects: | Cooperation, Kin selection (Evolution), Common good, Social evolution, Insects, Repellents, Altruism |
| Abstract: | The article focuses on cooperative behavior in the pine sawfly Neodiprion sertifer larvae, which produce a defensive secretion functioning as a public good to deter predators. Researchers experimentally created "cheats" by manually depleting larvae of their defensive fluid and found that cheats benefit by avoiding secretion costs but suffer higher predation risk, especially when common in groups. Cooperation persists primarily because larvae forage in groups of relatives, allowing kin selection to favor altruistic secretion despite the presence of cheats. The study highlights complexities such as sex differences and group composition affecting cooperation and notes that, unlike microorganisms, these insects can be observed and manipulated in natural settings to study social evolution. [Extracted from the article] |
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| Database: | Engineering Source |
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