Int J Biol Sci 2013; 9(3):313-321. doi:10.7150/ijbs.5781 This issue Cite

Review

Corpse Management in Social Insects

Qian Sun, Xuguo Zhou

Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, USA.

Citation:
Sun Q, Zhou X. Corpse Management in Social Insects. Int J Biol Sci 2013; 9(3):313-321. doi:10.7150/ijbs.5781. https://www.ijbs.com/v09p0313.htm
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Abstract

Undertaking behavior is an essential adaptation to social life that is critical for colony hygiene in enclosed nests. Social insects dispose of dead individuals in various fashions to prevent further contact between corpses and living members in a colony. Focusing on three groups of eusocial insects (bees, ants, and termites) in two phylogenetically distant orders (Hymenoptera and Isoptera), we review mechanisms of death recognition, convergent and divergent behavioral responses toward dead individuals, and undertaking task allocation from the perspective of division of labor. Distinctly different solutions (e.g., corpse removal, burial and cannibalism) have evolved, independently, in the holometabolous hymenopterans and hemimetabolous isopterans toward the same problem of corpse management. In addition, issues which can lead to a better understanding of the roles that undertaking behavior has played in the evolution of eusociality are discussed.

Keywords: undertaking behavior, necrophoresis, eusociality, Hymenoptera, Isoptera.


Citation styles

APA
Sun, Q., Zhou, X. (2013). Corpse Management in Social Insects. International Journal of Biological Sciences, 9(3), 313-321. https://doi.org/10.7150/ijbs.5781.

ACS
Sun, Q.; Zhou, X. Corpse Management in Social Insects. Int. J. Biol. Sci. 2013, 9 (3), 313-321. DOI: 10.7150/ijbs.5781.

NLM
Sun Q, Zhou X. Corpse Management in Social Insects. Int J Biol Sci 2013; 9(3):313-321. doi:10.7150/ijbs.5781. https://www.ijbs.com/v09p0313.htm

CSE
Sun Q, Zhou X. 2013. Corpse Management in Social Insects. Int J Biol Sci. 9(3):313-321.

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