Hey everyone, here is a great article from live science on termite battles may explain evolution of social Insects.
This part is what I find the most interesting
" Her team's research shows that when two neighboring termite families within the same log meet, they battle, often leading to the deaths of one or both families' kings and queens. This paves the way for replacement "junior" kings and queens to develop from either or both colonies' worker offspring. In other words, sterile termites can become reproducers when their parents are killed, becoming the main progenitors for the colony. Pheromones produced by healthy kings and queens normally suppress gonad development in "helper" classes, and when the kings and queens die, the pheromones disappear or diminish. As a result, suppression lifts and nonrelated, "sterile," helper offspring from both colonies are able to become new "reproductives" and assume the throne. "Assassination of founding kings and queens may have driven young termite offspring to remain as non-reproducing workers in their birth colonies," said Thorne. Rather than risk dangerous attempts at initiating independent colonies outside the nest, remaining at home may have given them a better opportunity to become reproducers. It also turns out that hundreds of king and queen founding pairs simultaneously colonize the same dead tree, giving the insects greater opportunity to meet and battle their neighbors. When kings and queens are killed, termites from the unrelated families join forces and cooperate in a larger, stronger group in which new reproductive termites can emerge from either or both colony's worker ranks. Termites from the two families may even interbreed. Because these young colonies are relatively small, the offspring —who remain as helpers in their parents' nests — have a reasonable chance of inheriting the family's resources and becoming reproductive termites. "The merged colony also has a size advantage in its next battle with a neighbor," Thorne said. "Thus both unrelated families benefit following colony encounters."
https://www.livescie...al-insects.html
Edited by Pepsi408, September 20 2017 - 5:05 AM.
