Soldiers and Medics: altruistic caste battles micro and macro enemies

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Defenders of insect colonies lay down their lives, often in spectacular battles with enemies. But, they may also be involved in a less obvious role of fighting pathogenic microorganisms. Sharing quarters with close relatives comes with susceptibility to an array of parasites and pathogens. Consequently, social insects rely on a diverse set of individual and group-level defences to prevent and combat disease. For example, one route by which social insects might resist disease is through the defensive effects of microbial symbionts. Social insects are thus targets for a heterogeneous set of predators, pathogens and opportunists. Understanding the evolution and ecology of defence in social insects requires a broad conceptual perspective, one that gathers ideas and expertise from entomologists, microbiologists, and evolutionary biologists. The organization of individual insects into cooperatively complex groups, or colonies, represents one of the major transitions of life on earth. However, it also comprises one of the greatest challenges for Darwin's theory of evolution. I have proposed an integrated program, focusing on the dual role of insect defenders in the social lives of their groups, with the goal of providing a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the evolution of altruism in insects.