Royal corruption is rife in the...(om their colonies to meet and mate. The ...)

Date:3/11/2008

om their colonies to meet and mate. The males die shortly after mating and the females go on to found new colonies. The researchers are keen to study this process, to determine if their hypothesis is correct and the mating strategy of males with royal genes ensures their rarity, to keep their advantages undetected by their commoner counterparts.

However, the scientists discovery does prove that, although social insect colonies are often cited as proof that societies can be based on egalitarianism and cooperation, they are not quite as utopian as they appear.

When studying social insects like ants and bees, its often the cooperative aspect of their society that first stands out, says Dr Hughes. However, when you look more deeply, you can see there is conflict and cheating and obviously human society is also a prime example of this. It was thought that ants were an exception, but our genetic analysis has shown that their society is also rife with corruption and royal corruption at that!

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Contact: Jo Kelly jokelly@campuspr.co.uk 44-113-258-9880 University of Leeds Source:Eurekalert

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