Why Ants Do but Honeybees Do Not Construct Satellite Nests |
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Authors: | Janet T Landa Gordon Tullock |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Economics, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada;(2) Center for Study of Public Choice, George Mason University School of Law, 3301 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22201, USA |
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Abstract: | Synopsis: Ants and honeybees are both social insects that share many characteristics in common. But there is a fundamental
difference between ants and bees. Ants can and do construct main nests with satellite nests, whereas bees construct only a
main nest with no satellite nests. In this paper we explain the difference between the socio-economic organization of ants
and bees: ants can identify nest-mates from satellite nests because ants leave odor trails connecting main nests to satellite
nests so that fellow nest-mate from satellite nests smell the same. Bees, on the other hand, cannot leave odor trails in the
air, and hence are unable to identify bees from another nest; bees from another nest with different pheromone smells are stung
to death by guard bees in the main nest.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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Keywords: | cooperation eusociality ethnic trade networks identity institutions odor paths path dependency pheromone social insects socio-economic organization super-colony |
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