title: Ecology and Evolution of Communication in Social Insects.
abstract: Insect life strategies comprise all levels of sociality from solitary to eusocial, in which individuals form persistent groups and divide labor. With increasing social complexity, the need to communicate a greater diversity of messages arose to coordinate division of labor, group cohesion, and concerted actions. Here we summarize the knowledge on prominent messages in social insects that inform about reproduction, group membership, resource locations, and threats and discuss potential evolutionary trajectories of each message in the context of social complexity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sara Diana
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Leonhardt
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Zoology, University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Menzel
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nehring
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany. Electronic address: thomas.schmitt@uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schmitt
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005075:Biological Evolution; D007313:Insecta / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D010675:Pheromones / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones