Adam Smith Meets Charles Darwin

Via Catherine Rampell, a study on division of labor among ants:

My results indicate that at least in this species, a task is not primarily performed by individuals that are especially adapted to it (by whatever mechanism). This result implies that if social insects are collectively successful, this is not obviously for the reason that they employ specialized workers who perform better individually.

Mark Thoma thinks through why Smith's theory doesn't apply in this case.