I would instead characterise the workers as asexual—not a third gender, but a “defective” female gender - and eusocial insects as an excellent demonstration why asexual/agender/queer folks with these defects are in fact a benefit and hence kept in the gene pool, despite the fact that you’d intuitively think they would instantly die out as their core difference means they tend not to reproduce; namely, that they can play excellent support roles. The only way for the workers to spread their genes is through supporting the queen, who they are very closely related to; hence, they show extreme loyalty. A queen by herself would be unable to survive. If she only bore queens, those queens would not support her, but compete with her, taking resources for their kids. Having a bunch of asexual kids and only rarely raising a new queen when a whole new hive can be supported is ideal for the queen.
I’ve wondered whether this, in a more minor form, still holds true in mammals. It stands out that gay/ace animals do turn up in quite regular intervals, when it seems such an obvious bug. And then I think of humans, where they gay uncle gives you the best presents, because he doesn’t have kids of his own to raise, and where your lesbian aunt chips in with childcare, because she has no kids of her own. Mammal offspring often need a hell of a lot of care to be successful—you don’t win by having as many as possible that are fertile, they just fight each other. You want a few great fertile ones, and then arrange things so they make it—you want more labour to support, but not more competition. That is also likely why women go through menopause—if they kept reproducing, their children would be in competition with their children’s children, and as a result, their recent offspring would be neglected, and their earlier offspring would be pushed out of reproduction. Instead, they stop reproducing about the age their own kids start cranking out kids, and instead go for quality over quantity, support their kids and grandchildren. Basically, having genes that make it likely that your sibling is gay might be neat in some situations, especially environments with limited resources and demanding young. You can basically raise a free worker to hunt for food.
I would instead characterise the workers as asexual—not a third gender, but a “defective” female gender - and eusocial insects as an excellent demonstration why asexual/agender/queer folks with these defects are in fact a benefit and hence kept in the gene pool, despite the fact that you’d intuitively think they would instantly die out as their core difference means they tend not to reproduce; namely, that they can play excellent support roles. The only way for the workers to spread their genes is through supporting the queen, who they are very closely related to; hence, they show extreme loyalty. A queen by herself would be unable to survive. If she only bore queens, those queens would not support her, but compete with her, taking resources for their kids. Having a bunch of asexual kids and only rarely raising a new queen when a whole new hive can be supported is ideal for the queen.
I’ve wondered whether this, in a more minor form, still holds true in mammals. It stands out that gay/ace animals do turn up in quite regular intervals, when it seems such an obvious bug. And then I think of humans, where they gay uncle gives you the best presents, because he doesn’t have kids of his own to raise, and where your lesbian aunt chips in with childcare, because she has no kids of her own. Mammal offspring often need a hell of a lot of care to be successful—you don’t win by having as many as possible that are fertile, they just fight each other. You want a few great fertile ones, and then arrange things so they make it—you want more labour to support, but not more competition. That is also likely why women go through menopause—if they kept reproducing, their children would be in competition with their children’s children, and as a result, their recent offspring would be neglected, and their earlier offspring would be pushed out of reproduction. Instead, they stop reproducing about the age their own kids start cranking out kids, and instead go for quality over quantity, support their kids and grandchildren. Basically, having genes that make it likely that your sibling is gay might be neat in some situations, especially environments with limited resources and demanding young. You can basically raise a free worker to hunt for food.