After more than 20 years of speculation about what scientists call green-beard genes—genes with variations that allow the bearers to recognize each other and team up—researchers may have found such a gene, which drives fire ants to kill queens of certain genetic types.

References:

Keller, L., and K.G. Ross. 1998. Selfish genes: Green beard in the red fire ant. Nature 394(Aug. 6):573.

Bower, B. 1995. Ultrasocial Darwinism. Science News 148(Nov. 25):366.

Dawkins, R. 1989. The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Additional information about mechanisms of selection and the selfish gene theory can be found at http://bionet.ucsc.edu/people/barrylab/public_html/classes/animal_behavior/LEVELS.HTM#anchor185882.

Sources:

Laurent Keller
University of Lausanne
Bâtiment de Biologie
Institute of Zoology and Animal Ecology
1015 Lausanne
Switzerland

Kenneth G. Ross
University of Georgia
Department of Entomology
Athens, GA 30602-2603