From the ‡University of Melbourne Department of Surgery, Austin Campus, ARMC, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084, Australia, the §Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, and The Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia, ¶Laboratoire de Signalisation Cellulaire et Tumorale, EA MNRT 2995, Faculté de Pharmacie, Montpellier, France, and the Walter and E...

The sporadic death of queen palms in one county in Florida was first brought to our attention in 2003. Recent conversations throughout the southern half of the state where queen palms are grown indicate the problem was observed in other counties at approximately the same time, which means we cannot blame the 2004 hurricane season for the spread of the problem. While initially less than 1% of th...

The breeding system of social organisms affects many important aspects of social life. Some species vary greatly in the number of breeders per group, but the mechanisms and selective pressures contributing to the maintenance of this polymorphism in social structure remain poorly understood. Here, we take advantage of a genetic dataset that spans 15 years to investigate the dynamics of colony qu...

ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS • Research Assistant, Industrial Relations Section, Princeton University, (1968-1969) • Faculty, Department of Economics, Stanford University, (1969present) • Jane Eliza Procter Visiting Fellow, Princeton University, (1966-1967) • Fellow, Econometric Society, (1993-1993) • Fellow, University College, University of London, (2001-2001) • Fellow, Society of Labor Econom...

In vitro rearing is an important and useful tool for honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) studies. However, it often results in intercastes between queens and workers, which are normally are not seen in hive-reared bees, except when larvae older than three days are grafted for queen rearing. Morphological classification (queen versus worker or intercastes) of bees produced by this method can be subjec...

We investigated the relative contribution of the queen and workers to colony nestmate recognition cues and on colony insularity in the Carpenter ant Camponotus fellah. Workers were either individually isolated, preventing contact with both queen and workers (colonial deprived, CD), kept in queenless groups, allowing only worker-worker interactions (queen deprived, QD) or in queenright (QR) grou...

Queens of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata appear to maintain reproductive monopoly through pheromone rather than through physical aggression. Upon queen removal, one of the workers (potential queen, PQ) becomes extremely aggressive but drops her aggression immediately upon returning the queen. If the queen is not returned, the PQ gradually drops her aggression and becomes the ...

There has been much speculation about which phenotypic traits serve as reliable indicators of productivity in queen honeybees (Apis mellifera). To investigate the predictive value of queen body weight on colony development and quality, we compared colonies in which queens weighed less than 180 mg to those in which queens weighed more than 200 mg. Both groups contained naturally mated and instru...

In social insects, resource allocation is a key factor that influences colony survival and growth. Optimal allocation to queens and brood is essential for maximum colony productivity, requiring colony members to have information on the total reproductive power in colonies. However, the mechanisms regulating egg production relative to the current labour force for brood care remain poorly known. ...