The secret of a long fecund life: Why social insect queens can live so long: Cryptotermes secundus (Blattodea, Isoptera)

Reproduction almost universally shortens lifespan, with the exception of the social insects. In ants and termites, the queen is the sole egg-layer and often outlives the altruistic workers by more than a decade. How queens can overcome the fecundity-longevity trade-off is still unclear. We present the first experimental test of this hypothesis: When we increased queen fecundity, queen survival was not affected. In contrast, workers were more likely to die and their gene expression indicated altered development. The workers thus carried the burden of the queens increased fecundity. Our results reveal that the fecundity-longevity trade-off is shifted from within queens to the colony level. We argue that social evolution rendering workers a disposable soma can explain the extraordinary longevity and fecundity of social insect queens with sterile workers.