Abstract
Polyethism or division of works among workers of social insects is always a hot issue among entomologists. Honey bees, ants, and wasps are the main target for scientists to study the division of works. Studying polyethism in termites has been increased recently due to the damages to the forests, buildings, boats and even water preserving monuments. Every year a huge amount of money is spent to control these isopteran social insects in the south east of Asia, the US, Australia and other tropical and subtropical regions. As understanding the polyethism in these social insects can be a hand in controlling them, in this review we have tried to explain different kinds of polyethism and their importance in these social insects.
Highlights
Division of task in social insect colonies is always very interesting for scientists and even politician
Bozorgmehr a Persian nobleman and scholar that served as a minister of three kings during Sassanid dynasty is one of the first trial to understand the secret of polyethism among honey bee workers
As Evans revealed in his paper at 2006, in Nasutitermes exitiosus, workers shifted their work from foraging to building behavior and vice versa very rarely
Summary
Division of task in social insect colonies is always very interesting for scientists and even politician. During the evolution of social insects polyethism is one of the key phenomenons [1]. To put it in a nutshell, polyethism means division of duties among the insect colony member. As Evans revealed in his paper at 2006, in Nasutitermes exitiosus, workers shifted their work from foraging to building behavior and vice versa very rarely. Recent studies have shown that age [3]-[7], size [8]-[11] and sex [12] or combination of them [13] are the fundamental criteria in polyethism.
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