Some species of wasps are social. The queen starts a colony from scratch each spring. She builds a small nest, and lays and raises a group of female workers. The workers enlarge the nest while the queen continues to lay eggs. Unfertilized eggs become males that mate with newly hatched females. All of the wasps except the newly fertilized females die by the summer.

Question

Some species of wasps are social. The queen starts a colony from scratch each spring. She builds a small nest, and lays and raises a group of female workers. The workers enlarge the nest while the queen continues to lay eggs. Unfertilized eggs become males that mate with newly hatched females. All of the wasps except the newly fertilized females die by the summer.

Which best describes this behavior?

It is beneficial only to the males that do not fertilize eggs.
It is beneficial only to the female workers that are not fertilized.
It is beneficial to each one of the individual colony members.
It is beneficial to the whole species, but not to all of the individual members.

Answer 1

It is beneficial to the whole species, but not to all of the individual members.

Answer 2

It is beneficial to the whole species, but not to all of the individual members.

The behavior described is most beneficial to the whole species, but not to all of the individual members.