Why do insects such as bees and ants work productively in groups non-stop as opposed to other insects such as grasshoppers and mosquitoes?
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There is an actual evolutionary answer to this. It’s a bit of a complex answer to do with genetic inheritance though.
Eusocial insects have a form of inheritance called haplodiploidy. This means that within a hive the males have one set of chromosomes while females have two. This is the determiner of sex within bees and ants.
Queens produce male drones by creating unfertilized eggs. When the eggs are fertilized they hatch into some sort of female, be it a queen, warrior or worker. The queen is fertilized by her own male drones. What this means is that female bees and ants share 75% of their DNA with other members of their hive. If they were to produce their own offspring outside of the hive they would actually be less related to them than their sisters, sharing only 50% of their DNA. This makes raising their sisters a preferable strategy in terms of genetic survival when compared to rearing their own offspring.
Probably failed on the Explain to me like I’m 5 thing, but this is the reason.
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