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Why can kin selection help explain cooperation in hymenopteran colonies?

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Bumblebee pollination — Hymenoptera An endangered rusty patched bumblebee (*Bombus affinis*) browsing on a wild bergamot flower.

Kin selection helps explain cooperation in Hymenoptera colonies by accounting for the inclusive fitness of sterile workers who forgo their own reproduction to assist the queen.1

This behavior is largely driven by a unique genetic system called haplodiploidy. In this system, males develop from unfertilized, haploid eggs, while females develop from fertilized, diploid eggs. Because a father passes the same set of genes to all his daughters, full sisters share 75 percent of their genes, whereas they would share only 50 percent of their genes with their own offspring.12

Consequently, female workers can transmit more copies of their genes by helping their mother produce more sisters than by producing their own daughters. While haplodiploidy is considered a predisposing factor, modern research suggests that cooperation is also reinforced by a generalized form of kin selection combined with limited opportunities for personal reproduction, such as high predation rates or a lack of available nesting sites, which favor individuals that remain in their natal groups.12