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Nature 444, 42-43 (2 November 2006) | doi:10.1038/444042a; Published online 1 November 2006
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Evolutionary biology: To work or not to work
David C. Queller1
Abstract
Coercion, not kinship, often determines who acts altruistically in an insect colony. But underlying affinities for kin emerge when coercion is removed: kin selection is what turns suppressed individuals into altruists.
When Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet remarked that his uncle Claudius was "A little more than kin..." he was referring to the added relationship of stepfather that came after Claudius killed Hamlet's father and married his mother. "A little more than kin" could also describe a feature of many social insects.
- David C. Queller is in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University, PO Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892, USA.
Email: queller@rice.edu
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