Various results show the ‘formal equivalence’ of kin and group selectionist methodologies, but this does not preclude there being a real and useful distinction between kin and group selection processes. I distinguish individualand population-centred approaches to drawing such a distinction, and I proceed to develop the latter. On the account I advance, the differences between kin and group sele...

Dispersal and mating patterns are known to affect the availability of both maternal and paternal kin within social groups, with important effects on the evolution of sociality. It is generally assumed that the philopatric sex forms stronger social bonds than the dispersing sex, possibly as a result of reduced kin availability for the dispersing sex after departure. However, few primate studies ...

Since ancient times, a natural number has been called perfect if it equals the sum of its proper divisors; e.g., 6 = 1+2+3 is a perfect number. In 1913, Dickson showed that for each fixed k, there are only finitely many odd perfect numbers with at most k distinct prime factors. We show how this result, and many like it, follow from embedding the natural numbers in the supernatural numbers and i...

Kin selection theory predicts altruism between related individuals, which requires the ability to recognize kin from non-kin. In insects, kin discrimination associated with altruistic behaviour is well-known in clonal and social species but in very few solitary insects. Here, we report that the solitary larvae of a non-social insect Aleochara bilineata Gyll. (Coleoptera; Staphylinidae) show kin...

In many organisms, individuals behave more altruistically towards relatives than towards unrelated individuals. Here, we conducted a study to determine if the performance of Arabidopsis thaliana is influenced by whether individuals are in competition with kin or non-kin. We selected seven pairs of genetically distinct accessions that originated from local populations throughout Europe. We measu...

What drives seemingly sellsh individuals in multi-agent systems to cooperate with each other? Our answer to the question is \kin preference." Kin preference helps to establish \habitats" that are composed of kin in population of rational agents. These habitats are resistant to invasion of enemies { that is, of non-kin. Results show the importance of kin preference in promoting cooperation and s...

Kin recognition is a useful ability for animals, facilitating cooperation among relatives and avoidance of excessive kin competition or inbreeding. In meerkats, Suricata suricatta, encounters between unfamiliar kin are relatively frequent, and kin recognition by phenotype matching is expected to avoid inbreeding with close relatives. Here, we investigate whether female meerkats are able to disc...