The example eusociality in termites

Termites are social insects whose colony members perform different jobs in the colony according to
their caste (reproductives, workers or soldiers). A typical termite colony will have a single pair of
reproductives: the king and the queen. The termite king and queen produce pheromones, a scent that
signals nesting and mating, that spread throughout the colony to prevent the worker termites from
becoming reproductive adults. The queen is responsible for starting the colony and laying all the eggs until
the colony reaches a certain size. She will then allow some of the immature termites to develop into
secondary queens which lay the additional eggs needed to keep the colony thriving. The king and queen
can live 15-25 years. If the queen or king dies, or there’s an increase in the size of the colony, the
concentration of pheromone levels and type change. Then one or more workers will molt into
reproductive termites, or alates.

Termites differ from many other insects in that they live in organized social colonies. A termite colony can
vary in size from only two termites (a king and queen) to a million or more.

Depending on the species, a colony will contain several forms or castes, including helper retaining full
reproductive potential, soldiers, and sterile worker.

a. Helper rtaining full reproductive potential

Thought it remains unclear whether totipotent helpers and ancestral or derived trait within
termites, the subsocial ancestor presumably started with totipotent offspring prior to the
evolution of eusociality. Huvenile helpers in termites, which may include larvae, nymph, and
pseudergates, are often reffered to as “workers” in functional sense, though ther are not
considered “true” workers because they may develop later into alate forms
b. Soldiers
The occurrence of soldiers, individuals specialized for nest defense or fighting, is monophyletic
among extant termite groups. Though soldiers in more derived lineages participate in defense
against predators. This may make sense in the soldiers arose prior to ecological dominance of
most significant modern predator.
c. Sterile workers
Trues workers that are sterile may have evolved three times and were lost at least once in
Isoptera. The worker caste arises due to an early switch between alate and apterous line in egg
or soon after. Workers is lost reproductive capability as colonies evolved to have larger worker
population and greater complexity.