Female Spiders Adopt Personality Driven Roles in Their Colonies

Female spiders that live together in colonies may adopt "warrior" or "nanny" roles, similar to how insects can form "soldier" and "worker" castes, scientists say.

These new findings shed light on how differences in personality can help divide up labor in species, the researchers added.

Ants, bees, wasps, termites and other social insects form colonies that are often divided into specialized castes. These castes may include sterile workers and soldiers, as well as reproductive queens and males.

Many other animals are social as well but do not form castes that are anatomically specialized for distinct tasks. However, some research groups recently suggested that differences in personalities may help to determine the division of labor in social animals. Read more...