Division of labor among members of a colony.

In social insects a distinction can be made between caste polyethism, in which morphological castes are specialized to serve different functions, and age polyethism, in which the same individual passes through different forms of specialization as she grows older.

The regular changing of labor roles by colony members as they age: Susan read in an article that age polyethism referred to the modification of labor roles of ants taking place on a regular basis due to ageing ants.