Distributed problem solving in social insects

In a social insect colony, large numbers of individuals all follow the same set of behavioral rules. Without centralized control, these individuals' i nteractions with each other and with their environment result in the alloca tion of individuals to various tasks, and in the distribution of foragers a mong available food sources. We review this highly parallel and distributed form of information processing, discussing its potential sophistication, i ts actual performance in various groups of social insects, its general stre ngths and liabilities, and finally, the adaptations that compensate for the se liabilities.