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Genomics

How to make a social insect

Nature volume 443, pages 919–920 (2006)Cite this article

The profound biological changes that lofted the honeybee to an advanced state of social organization are reflected in its newly sequenced genome. The species can now be studied all the way from molecule to colony.

If Earth's social organisms are scored by complexity of communication, division of labour and intensity of group integration, three pinnacles of evolution stand out: humanity, the jellyfish-like siphonophores, and a select assemblage of social insect species2,3. The honeybee, Apis mellifera, is a member of this insect group — which also includes the spectacular leaf-cutting ants, army ants and macrotermitine mound-building termites — and no one can deny that it belongs in this front rank4.

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References

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  1. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, 02138–2902, Massachusetts, USA

    Edward O. Wilson

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  1. Edward O. Wilson
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Wilson, E. How to make a social insect. Nature 443, 919–920 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/443919a

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