num_pages: 544
description: The Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of The Ants render the extraordinary lives of the social insects in this visually spectacular volume. The Superorganism promises to be one of the most important scientific works published in this decade. Coming eighteen years after the publication of The Ants  this new volume expands our knowledge of the social insects (among them ants bees wasps and termites) and is based on remarkable research conducted mostly within the last two decades. These superorganismsa tightly knit colony of individuals formed by altruistic cooperation complex communication and division of laborrepresent one of the basic stages of biological organization midway between the organism and the entire species. The study of the superorganism as the authors demonstrate has led to important advances in our understanding of how the transitions between such levels have occurred in evolution and how life as a whole has progressed from simple to complex forms. Ultimately this book provides a deep look into a part of the living world hitherto glimpsed by only a very few.110 color 100 black-and-white
language: English
title: The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company