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In many bees, wasps, and ants, workers police each other in order to prevent individual workers from selfishly producing their own male offspring. Although several factors can selectively favor worker policing, genetic relatedness is considered to be of special importance. In particular, kin selection theory predicts that worker policing should be more common in species where workers are more related to the queen’s sons than to other workers’ sons. Here we provide strong novel support for this theory based on a comparative analysis of policing and male parentage in 109 species of ants, bees, and wasps. First, an analysis of behavioral data confirms that worker policing occurs more frequently in species where workers are more related to the queen’s sons than to other workers’ sons. Second, an analysis of male parentage shows that a significantly higher percentage of the males are workers’ sons in species where …