Sydney, July 12 : Social species of wasps are better able to beat disease than solitary species, says a new study.

The research found that superior immunity in wasps is strongly linked to the species' group size and social complexity.

"The result provides evidence for the origin of antimicrobial defences in wasps and increases our understanding of trends in disease resistance strategies in all social insects," said study co-author Stephen Hoggard from Macquarie University, Australia.

The findings suggested that wasps originally developed specialised antibiotic defences to cope with living in solitary conditions but these evolved and became much stronger to fight disease risks associated with living in large groups.(IANS)