eusocial

eu·so·cial | \ ˌyü-ˈsō-shəl

Definition of eusocial

: living in a cooperative group in which usually one female and several males are reproductively active and the nonbreeding individuals care for the young or protect and provide for the group eusocial termites, ants, and naked mole rats

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Examples of eusocial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web While the scores of social ant species all evolved from one common social ancestor, bees’ eusocial nature evolved multiple times independently. — Quanta Magazine, "In Bees, a Hunt for Roots of Social Behavior," 6 May 2014 Knowing When the Rules Apply Hamilton’s rule was never meant to apply to eusocial insect colonies alone. — Jordana Cepelewicz, Scientific American, "The Elusive Calculus of Insect Altruism," 26 Apr. 2018 The most familiar examples are the fully eusocial ants, in which many sterile female workers do all the chores, a single large queen lays all the eggs, and a sprinkling of male ants, or drones, supply the sperm. — Natalie Angier, New York Times, "Gene-Modified Ants Shed Light on How Societies Are Organized," 23 Jan. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'eusocial.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.