Book Overview

Social insects, any of numerous species of insects that live in colonies and manifest three characteristics: group integration, division of labor, and overlap of generations. Social insects are best exemplified by all termites (Isoptera) and ants (Formicidae) and by various bees and wasps (Hymenoptera). It can be said that social insects make the world go around. By the sheer force of their numbers, social insects had a wide impact on the ecosystems in which they live. The true social insects – all ants and termites, and some bees and wasps – comprise 75% of the world′s insect biomass, according to E.O. Wilson. A colony of social bees can number in the tens of thousands, and hundreds of millions of antscan live together in a supercolony of interconnected nests