Insects, social

Bonabeau E, Dorigo M, Theraulaz G (2000) Inspiration for optimization from social insect behavior. Nature 406(6791) 39-42... 

Billen J, Morgan ED (1998) In Vander Meer RK, Breed MD, Winston ML, Espelie KE (eds) Pheromone communication in social insects. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, p 3... 

All of the suborder Symphyta and many species in the superfamily Aculeata in the suborder Apocrita are solitary insects. Although not requiring the complex semiochemistry of parasitic or social insects, solitary insects employ pheromones for mating, territorial marking, and host marking. Unfortunately, very few of these have been chemically identified. The pheromones of sawflies and seed wasps were extensively reviewed in 1999 [ 14]. The semiochemicals recently identified in solitary hymenoptera, discussed below, are summarized in Table 2 and Fig. 1. 

Most social insects are found in the order Hymenoptera. Sociality in insects is defined by the presence of one or more of the following traits (1) individuals of the same species cooperate in caring for the young (2) there is a reproductive division of labor, with usually sterile individuals working on behalf of fecund individuals and (3) there is an overlap of at least two generations in life... 

Traniello JFA, Robson SK (1995) Trail and territorial communication in social insects. In Carde RT.Bell WJ (eds) Chemical ecology of insects 2. Chapman and Hall, New York, p 241... 

Pheromone identification is still difficult because the structure of unique compounds present in small amounts in mixtures of similar molecules has to be elucidated. This topic will be discussed in detail by Ando as well as by others, showing nicely the recent progress in analytical techniques. The following chapter by R. Jurenka deals with insect pheromone biosynthesis with special emphasis on lepidopteran pheromones and also covers genetic aspects. The subsequent chapter by C. Keeling et al. describes the hymenopteran semio-chemicals (bees and ants), describing pheromones and allelochemicals. The hymenoptera add a certain flavor to the scene, because now the complexity of social insects with their many interactions comes into play, as well as the multi-level (multi-trophic) signals used by parasitoids. 

Ants are a remarkably snccessfnl gronp of social insects. They are almost everywhere only Iceland, Greenland, Polynesia, and Antarctica lack ants. There are 10,000 known species of these insects. Their engineering and social coordination is amazing, particnlarly given that no one is in charge. Steven Johnson has employed the ants as a model of emergence— properties of a system not possessed by any member of that system. Johnson notes ... 

The power of pheromones to act as agents of emergent behavior is perhaps nowhere better exemplified than by the ants. The termites, another highly successful group of social insects, provides a comparably compelling story. However, let s move on to communication by pheromones in mammals. 

Breed MD, Espelie KE, Winston ML (eds) Pheromone communication in social insects ... 

Lavine, B. K., Davidson, C. E., Vander Meer, R. K., Lahav, S., Soroker, V., and Hefetz, A. (2003) Genetic algorithms for deciphering the complex chemosensory code of social insects. Chemometrics Intell. Lab. Instrument. 66, 51-62. 

Point number four, about social systems, has not been considered here. This simple classification conveys well the complexity of the held of self-organization. The question of whether the human social organizahonal systems are genetically determined - sociobiology, as in the case of social insects - or induced by social and educational constraints is quite intereshng, but again out of the limits of this chapter. 

---