ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2018
Managing the risks and rewards of death in eusocial insects.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Renaming the 'OS-D/CSP' Family (Part 2): '4-Cysteine Soluble Proteins' (4CSPs)-Intracellular Functions.Insects · 2026Review
- Phobic responses of bull ants (Myrmecia midas) to odours introduced on their foraging route.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2025Article
- The Impact of Termiticides on Termite Corpse Management.Insects · 2025Article
- Desert Ant (Insects · 2024Article
- Article
- Necrophagy by insects in Oculudentavis and other lizard body fossils preserved in Cretaceous amber.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Both age and social environment shape the phenotype of ant workers.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Dead cells release a 'necrosignal' that activates antibiotic survival pathways in bacterial swarms.Nature communications · 2020Article
- Why chimpanzees carry dead infants: an empirical assessment of existing hypotheses.Royal Society open science · 2020Article
- Differential Behavioral Responses of Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Workers Toward Nestmate and Non-Nestmate Corpses.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2020Article
- Cooperative policing behaviour regulates reproductive division of labour in a termite.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Environmental decomposition of olefinic cuticular hydrocarbons ofProceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Responses to death and dying: primates and other mammals.Primates; journal of primatology · 2020Article
- Corpse management of the invasive Argentine ant inhibits growth of pathogenic fungi.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Scent of death: Evolution from sea to land of an extreme collective attraction to conspecific death.Ecology and evolution · 2019Article
- Evolutionary thanatology.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Comparative thanatology, an integrative approach: exploring sensory/cognitive aspects of death recognition in vertebrates and invertebrates.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Eusocial insects frequently face death of colony members as a consequence of living in large groups where the success of the colony is not dependent on the fate of the individual. Whereas death of conspecifics commonly triggers aversion in many group-living species due to risk of pathogens, eusocial insects perform cooperative corpse management. The causes and social context of the death, as well as feeding and nesting ecology of the species, influence the way that corpses are treated. The corpse itself releases cues that dictate the colony's response. As a result, social insects exhibit behavioural responses that promote disease resistance, colony defence and nutrient recycling. Corpse management represents a unique adaption that enhances colony success, and is another factor that has enabled eusocial insects to be so successful. In this review, we summarize the causes of death, the sensory detection of death and corpse management strategies of social insects. In addition, we provide insights into the evolution of behavioural response to the dead and the ecological relevance of corpse management.This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary thanatology: impacts of the dead on the living in humans and other animals'.
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