What Causes the Reproductive Caste of Eusocial Species to Evolve Greater Longevity?

Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2021/07/what-causes-the-reproductive-caste-of-eusocial-species-to-evolve-greater-longevity/

A eusocial species is divided into specialized castes. The reproductive caste (queens) exhibits a much longer life span than members of the other non-reproductive castes (workers), yet the members of all castes are genetically similar. Researchers here discuss the ways in which this divergent life span might evolve so reliably whenever a species is eusocial. It is observed across widely divergent species, from insects to mammals. This sort of work complements investigations into the biochemistry of this exceptional longevity of the reproductive caste, mostly carried out in insect species.

Queens of eusocial species live extraordinarily long compared to their workers. So far, it has been argued that these lifespan divergences are readily explained by the classical evolutionary theory of ageing. As workers predominantly perform risky …

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