Superorganisms and Holobionts

The term “superorganism” was coined in 1928 by the great myrmecologist William Morton Wheeler to describe a colony of eusocial insects, such as ants. The “super” in superorganism denotes a higher level of organization, an association composed of multiple organisms of the same species. Individual members perform specific tasks, much like the cells in different tissues of an organism. Reproduction may be relegated to a specialized few. This division of labor is tightly integrated through a network of communications, the medium for the message being chemical in the case of insects. By virtue of the conspicuous analogies to human culture, the term has also wended its way into social and economic theory.