In insect societies, order through discipline

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <b> <h1 class="title"><font face="Arial" size="4">In insect societies, order through discipline</font></h1> </b> <p class="title"><font face="Arial" size="1">Posted July 21<br> World Science staff</font><b><font size="2"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><br> <br> Popular wisdom holds up social insects such as bees as models of selfless diligence. But researchers are learning such cooperation doesn't always come naturally -- it's enforced. </span></font></b></p> <p class="title"><b><font size="2"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Tufts University researchers found, for instance, that queen paper wasps seem to discipline idle workers by taking what appears to be a threatening lunge at them. In response, the shirkers tend to get back on the job. </span></font></b></p> <p class="title"><b><font size="2"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">While it's unwise to casually attribute human-like motives to other animals, darting inded "seems to be a means of regulating activity in the colony by disciplining wasps in specific behavior states," says Tufts researcher Annagiri Sumana.</span></font></b></p> <p class="title"><b><font size="2"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Times New Roman; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">The findings, published in the May issue of the research journal Naturwissenschaften, add to discoveries from the past several years that bees and other social insects run what have been described as little police states. For example, workers who by laying eggs challenge the queen's exclusive right to reproduce, quickly see the eggs destroyed.</span></font></p> </b> </body>