- Who
- Ambrosia beetle Austroplatypus incompertus
- What
- first first
- Where
- Australia ()
- When
The first (and presently the only) species of beetle known to exhibit true social (eusocial) behaviour is Austroplatypus incompertus, which is a species of ambrosia beetle from Australia. A member of the weevil family, it forms colonies inside the heartwood of eucalyptus trees that each contains a single fertile female (the queen) protected by infertile females (the workers) and which mates with fertile males (drones) to yield future generations, in a social caste system comparable to that of social bees and ants.
To be considered truly eusocial, a species must satisfy three criteria. Its colonies must exhibit reproductive division of labour; they must have overlapping generations; and they must feature cooperative brood care. The colonies of A. incompertus display all three of these characteristics.
