title: Unicolonial ants: where do they come from, what are they and where are they going?
abstract: Unicolonial ant populations are the most extensive cooperative units known in nature, forming networks of interconnected nests extending sometimes hundreds of kilometers. Within such a supercolony, worker altruistic behavior might be maladaptive, because it seems to aid random members of the population instead of relatives. However, recent genetic and behavioral data show that, viewed on a sufficiently large scale, unicolonial ants do have colony boundaries that define very large kin groups. It seems likely that they are family groups that continue to express their kin-selected behavior as they grow to extreme sizes. However, at extreme sizes, kin selection theory predicts that these behaviors are maladapted and evolutionarily unstable, a prediction that is supported by their twiggy phylogenetic distribution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, PO Box 65 (Viikinkaari 1), University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland. heikki.helantera@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Heikki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Helanterä
authors.forename: Joan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Strassmann
authors.forename: Juli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carrillo
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Queller