ABSTRACT
The study of social control over reproduction occupies a key position in our attempt to understand the evolution and organization of insect societies. On one hand, colony-level selection can be expected to favor efficient cooperation of colony members to maximize the production of sexuals capable of founding new colonies (Oster and Wilson 1978). On the other, direct reproduction is generally dominated by only one or a few individuals in the colony, so that competition among nestmates for reproductive privileges is also a prominent feature of social life among the insects (West-Eberhard 1981; Fletcher and Ross 1985; Bourke 1988). The extent and means by which social factors regulate reproduction is determined by the interplay of these two evolutionary tendencies.
