Nietzsche’s Entomology: Insect Sociality and the Concept of the Will

The article traces Nietzsche’s references to insects in his published and unpublished writings against the backdrop of his study of the entomological research of his time (esp. through his reading of Alfred Espinas’s Die thierischen Gesellschaften). The first part of the article explores how Nietzsche’s entomology allows us to add a posthumanist perspective to the more familiar poststructuralist readings of Nietzsche, as the entomological research he consulted offered him a model for understanding how rudimentary processes can lead to the formation of structures and higher organizations with emergent properties. The second part of the article revisits Nietzsche’s conceptions of the will and the will to power against the backdrop of his references to insect sociality and the influence of Wilhelm Wundt. It shows that Nietzsche’s deconstruction of the will as an umbrella concept and his will to power are attempts to model the emergence of complex edifices from simple operations under which physical, psychological, and social phenomena must be thought to arise. The article concludes with a reflection of the social and political relevance of what Nietzsche identifies as modernity’s “disgregation of the will.”

Nietzsche’s Entomology: Insect Sociality and the Concept of the Will

The article traces Nietzsche’s references to insects in his published and unpublished writings against the backdrop of his study of the entomological research of his time (esp. through his reading of Alfred Espinas’s Die thierischen Gesellschaften). The first part of the article explores how Nietzsche’s entomology allows us to add a posthumanist perspective to the more familiar poststructuralist readings of Nietzsche, as the entomological research he consulted offered him a model for understanding how rudimentary processes can lead to the formation of structures and higher organizations with emergent properties. The second part of the article revisits Nietzsche’s conceptions of the will and the will to power against the backdrop of his references to insect sociality and the influence of Wilhelm Wundt. It shows that Nietzsche’s deconstruction of the will as an umbrella concept and his will to power are attempts to model the emergence of complex edifices from simple operations under which physical, psychological, and social phenomena must be thought to arise. The article concludes with a reflection of the social and political relevance of what Nietzsche identifies as modernity’s “disgregation of the will.”

Social modularity: conserved genes and regulatory elements underlie caste-antecedent behavioural states in an incipiently social bee

The evolutionary origins of advanced eusociality, one of the most complex forms of phenotypic plasticity in nature, have long been a focus within the field of sociobiology. Although eusocial insects are known to have evolved from solitary ancestors, sociogenomic research among incipiently social taxa has only recently provided empirical evidence supporting theories that modular regulation and deeply conserved genes may play important roles in both the evolutionary emergence and elaboration of insect sociality. There remains, however, a paucity of data to further test the biological reality of these and other evolutionary theories among taxa in the earliest stages of social evolution. Here, we present brain transcriptomic data from the incipiently social small carpenter bee, Ceratina calcarata , which captures patterns of cis -regulation and gene expression associated with female maturation, and underlying two well-defined behavioural states, foraging and guarding, concurrently demonstrated by mothers and daughters during early autumn. We find that an incipiently social nest environment may dramatically affect gene expression. We further reveal foraging and guarding behaviours to be putatively caste-antecedent states in C. calcarata , and offer strong empirical support for the operation of modular regulation, involving deeply conserved and differentially expressed genes in the expression of early social forms.

The critical role of primer pheromones in maintaining insect sociality

Primer pheromones play a pivotal role in the biology and social organization of insect societies. Despite their importance, they have been less studied because of the complexity of the required bioassays and, consequently, only a few of them have been chemically identified to date. The major primer pheromones are that of the queen pheromones that regulate reproductive skew and maintain colony cohesion and function. From a theoretical viewpoint, several features regarding the chemistry of queen pheromones can be predicted. They should be generally nonvolatile in order to avoid saturation of the colony space, which might otherwise hamper their perception because of sensory habituation. Accordingly, they should be actively dispersed throughout the colony by workers. The queen pheromone should also be caste-specific, qualitatively different from any worker pheromone, and preferably multicomponent, to allow unequivocal identification of the queen. The bi-potency of the female larvae in social Hymenoptera to become queen or worker necessitates strict regulation over pheromone production. Indeed, in the honeybee, the biosynthetic pathways as well as the genomic expressions are completely disparate between queens and workers. Future advances in chemical analyses, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics will enrich our understanding of the chemistry, mechanisms, and crucial role that primer pheromones play in social evolution.

Inquiline social parasites as tools to unlock the secrets of insect sociality

Insect societies play a crucial role in the functioning of most ecosystems and have fascinated both scientists and the lay public for centuries. Despite the long history of study, we are still far from understanding how insect societies have evolved and how social cohesion in their colonies is maintained. Here we suggest inquiline social parasites of insect societies as an under-exploited experimental tool for understanding sociality. We draw on examples from obligate inquiline (permanent) social parasites in wasps, ants and bees to illustrate how these parasites may allow us to better understand societies and learn more about the evolution and functioning of insect societies. We highlight three main features of these social parasite–host systems—namely, close phylogenetic relationships, strong selective pressures arising from coevolution and multiple independent origins—that make inquiline social parasites particularly suited for this aim; we propose a conceptual comparative framework that considers trait losses, gains and modifications in social parasite–host systems. We give examples of how this framework can reveal the more elusive secrets of sociality by focusing on two cornerstones of sociality: communication and reproductive division of labour. Together with social parasites in other taxonomic groups, such as cuckoos in birds, social parasitism has a great potential to reveal the mechanisms and evolution of complex social groups. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The coevolutionary biology of brood parasitism: from mechanism to pattern’.

Draft genome assembly and population genetics of an agricultural pollinator, the solitary alkali bee (Halictidae: Nomia melanderi)

Alkali bees (Nomia melanderi) are solitary relatives of the halictine bees, which have become an important model for the evolution of social behavior, but for which few solitary comparisons exist. These ground-nesting bees defend their developing offspring against pathogens and predators, and thus exhibit some of the key traits that preceded insect sociality. Alkali bees are also efficient native pollinators of alfalfa seed, which is a crop of major economic value in the United States. We sequenced, assembled, and annotated a high-quality draft genome of 299.6 Mbp for this species. Repetitive content makes up more than one-third of this genome, and previously uncharacterized transposable elements are the most abundant type of repetitive DNA. We predicted 10,847 protein coding genes, and identify 479 of these undergoing positive directional selection with the use of population genetic analysis based on low-coverage whole genome sequencing of 19 individuals. We found evidence of recent population bottlenecks, but no significant evidence of population structure. We also identify 45 genes enriched for protein translation and folding, transcriptional regulation, and triglyceride metabolism evolving slower in alkali bees compared to other halictid bees. These resources will be useful for future studies of bee comparative genomics and pollinator health research.