title: Human and ant social behavior should be compared in a very careful way to draw valid parallels.
abstract: Gowdy & Krall provide an interesting discussion of evolutionary origins and consequences of ultrasociality. However, some of their statements concerning various features of ant and human social behavior do not adequately reflect present knowledge about the discussed issues, which include, among others, polyethism, cultural information transfer, within-group conflicts and resistance in ant societies, and reproductive division of labor in humans. Gowdy & Krall (G&K) provide an interesting discussion of evolutionary origins and consequences of ultrasociality, an advanced form of social behavior that evolved independently in both social insects and humans. Their reflections are thought-provoking, but some statements concerning various features of ant and human social behavior do not reflect adequately the present knowledge about the discussed issues.
authors: Laboratory of Ethology, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, PL 02-093 Warsaw, Poland. e.godzinska@nencki.gov.pl http://en.nencki.gov.pl/laboratory-of-ethology
authors: Ewa Joanna
authors: EJ
authors: Godzińska
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D007313:Insecta; D012098:Reproduction; D012919:Social Behavior