ABSTRACT
Choe and Crespi (1997) provided an excellent account of the social, as well as parental, behaviors of many groups of insects and arachnids. Hasiotis et al. (1997), based on Late Triassic data from Arizona, suggested that trace fossils indicate the presence of social hymenopterans far earlier than body fossil evidence supports. Engel (2001) provided extensive evidence for rejecting the conclusion of Hasiotis et al. regarding the existence of late Triassic social hymenopterans. The alternative is a high level of behavioral convergence involving unrelated arthropod groups.
