The Evolution of Social Behaviour in Insects and Arachnids

Comprehensive and unbeatable guide to the evolution of cooperation in insects and arachnids.

Jae C. Choe (Edited by), Bernard J. Crespi (Edited by)

9780521589772, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 March 1997

552 pages, 88 b/w illus. 97 tables
24.7 x 18.8 x 2.7 cm, 1.205 kg

'… an exceptional book packed with scholarship, insights and arthropod wonders … fascinating … splendidly thought provoking and hence in the best sense intellectually entertaining … of considerable scientific value in terms of the breadth of its scope, the wealth of empirical findings and the careful evaluation of this … so well written, skilfully packed with delightful examples that it should also be a source of pleasure to almost every ecological entomologist.' Ecological Entomology

'Social' insects and arachnids exhibit forms of complex behaviour that involve cooperation in building a nest, defending against attackers or rearing offspring. This book is a comprehensive, up-to-date guide to sociality and its evolution in a wide range of taxa. In it, leading researchers review the extent of sociality in different insect and arachnid groups, analyse the genetic, ecological and demographic causes of sociality from a comparative perspective and suggest ways in which the field can be moved on. It contains fascinating accounts of the social lives of many different insects and arachnids, as well as tests of current theories of the evolution of social behaviour. The Evolution of Social Behaviour in Insects and Arachnids provides essential reading and insight for students and researchers interested in social behaviour, behavioural ecology, entomology and arachnology.

Introduction
1. Are behavioural classifications blinders to natural variation?
2. Life beneath silk walls: a review of the primitively social Embiidina
3. Post-ovulation parental investment and parental care in cockroaches
4. The spectrum of eusociality in termites
5. Maternal care in the Hemiptera: ancestry, alternatives and current adaptive value
6. Evolution of parental care in the giant water bugs (Heteroptera: Bolostomatidae)
7. The evolution of sociality in aphids: a clone's eye view
8. Ecology and evolution of social behaviour among Australian gall thrips
9. Interactions among males, females and offspring in bark and ambrosia beetles: the significance of living in holes for the evolution of social behaviour
10. Biparental care and social evolution in burying beetles: lessons from the larder
11. Subsocial behaviour in Scarabaeiinae
12. Evolution of social behaviour in Passalidae (Coleoptera)
13. The evolution of social behaviour in the Augochlorine bees (Hymenoptera: Halicitidae) based on a phylogenetic analysis of the data
14. Demography and sociality in halictine bees (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)
15. Behavioural environments of sweat bees (Halictinae) and variability in social organization
16. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors associated with social evolution in allodapine bees
17. Cooperative breeding in wasps and vertebrates: the role of ecological constraints
18. Morphologically 'primitive' ants: comparative review of social characters, and the importance of queen-worker dimorphism
19. Social conflict and cooperation among founding queens in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
20. Social evolution in the lepidoptera: ecological context and communication in larval societies
21. Sociality and kin selection in Acari
22. Colonial web-building spiders: balancing the costs and benefits of group living
23. Causes and consequences of cooperation and permanent-sociality in spiders
24. Evolution and explanation of social systems
Index.

Subject Areas: Insects [entomology PSVT7], Arachnids [PSVT6], Animal behaviour [PSVP]