noun
- a social system in which a group of individuals of the same species cooperate in raising young, divide labor into reproductive and non-reproductive castes, and overlap generations within a colony.
Usage: biology; entomology; formal
Examples
- Eusociality is most famously observed in honeybees, where a queen lays eggs and workers perform all other tasks.
- Ants exhibit eusociality through their complex colony structure with distinct castes.
- The evolution of eusociality in insects represents one of the major transitions in evolution.
- Termites are another example of insects that have developed eusociality.
- Researchers study eusociality to understand how cooperation and division of labor evolved in social animals.