Colonies are people too: Personality and fitness in paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Jandt
Keyword(s):  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Polistes Fuscatus

The disappearance of subordinate foundresses in paper wasps: eviction by nestmates or reproductive strategy?

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (12) ◽  
pp. 1928-1933 ◽  
Author(s):  
George J Gamboa ◽  
Janet L Savoyard ◽  
Laura M Panek
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Strategy ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Social Wasp ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Polistes Fuscatus ◽  
Colony Cycle ◽  
The Social ◽  
Behavioural Evidence ◽  
Related Mortality

Videotaped observations (371.3 h) were conducted in 1995, 1996, and 1997 on 50 multiple-foundress colonies of the social wasp Polistes fuscatus. Observations were made during the mid-preworker, late-preworker, and early-postworker stages of the colony cycle. The vast majority of lost subordinate cofoundresses (62 of 77) disappeared during the time interval from 2 weeks before to 4 weeks after the emergence of the first workers. The loss of subordinates did not appear to be the result of senescence or foraging-related mortality. Lost subordinates were from productive and presumably healthy colonies. In colonies containing two or more subordinates, lost subordinates had significantly greater dominance ranks than expected. There was no behavioural evidence that lost subordinates were evicted from their colony by queens, other subordinate foundresses, or workers. Lost subordinates were not observed to renest, join sister colonies, or adopt orphaned nests. Our results indicate that lost subordinates leave colonies of their own volition. Indirect evidence from other studies suggests that subordinates may disperse and usurp colonies from other sites.

Queen Regulation of Worker Foraging in Paper Wasps: a Social Feedback Control System (Polistes Fuscatus, Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Behaviour ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 102 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 147-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hudson K. Reeve ◽  
George J. Gamboa
Keyword(s):  
Feedback Control ◽  
Social Regulation ◽  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Social Feedback ◽  
Polistes Fuscatus ◽  
Primitively Eusocial Wasp ◽  
The Social ◽  
Eusocial Wasp ◽  
Single Worker ◽  
Primitively Eusocial

AbstractWe examined the queen's role in regulation of worker foraging in small field colonies of the primitively eusocial wasp, Polistes fuscatus (29 colonies; 148 h observation). Queen removal results in a significant reduction in worker departure rate. The placement of a cooled, inactive queen into her queenless nest produces a significantly greater reduction in worker departure rate than does queen removal, and the resumption of activity by an inactive queen causes a significant increase in worker departure rate. Removal or cooling of a single worker does not produce similar effects on worker foraging, suggesting that the queen is the central regulator of worker foraging in small P. fuscatus colonies. We present evidence that: (1) the queen's control of worker foraging is mediated primarily by her influence on worker nest activity, (2) queen aggression may be important in stimulating departures by workers with low tendencies to leave the nest (i.e., dominant workers), and (3) the magnitude of the queen's stimulatory influence on worker foraging is directly related to the number of workers on the nest. We integrate these results with evidence from our other studies of polistine colony dynamics in a feedback control model of the social regulation of foraging.

Effects of stage of colony cycle, context, and intercolony distance on conspecific tolerance by paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus)

1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
George J. Gamboa ◽  
Robin L. Foster ◽  
Julie A. Scope ◽  
Angela M. Bitterman
Keyword(s):  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Polistes Fuscatus ◽  
Colony Cycle ◽  
Conspecific Tolerance

The Mechanism of Queen Regulation of Foraging by Workers in Paper Wasps (Polistes fuscatus, Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Ethology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
George J. Gamboa ◽  
Tracy L. Wacker ◽  
Julie A. Scope ◽  
Thomas J. Cornell ◽  
Janet Shellman-Reeve
Keyword(s):  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Polistes Fuscatus

scholarly journals Age and social experience induced plasticity across brain regions of the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Jernigan ◽  
Natalie C. Zaba ◽  
Michael J. Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Mushroom Body ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Social Recognition ◽  
Paper Wasp ◽  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Polistes Fuscatus ◽  
Olfactory Processing

Developmental studies of brain volumes can reveal which portions of neural circuits are sensitive to environmental inputs. In social insects, differences in relative investment across brain regions emerge as behavioural repertoires change during ontogeny or as a result of experience. Here, we test the effects of maturation and social experience on morphological brain development in Polistes fuscatus paper wasps , focusing on brain regions involved in visual and olfactory processing. We find that mature wasps regardless of social experience have relatively larger brains than newly emerged wasps and this difference is driven by changes to mushroom body calyx and visual regions but not olfactory processing neuropils. Notably, social wasps invest more in the anterior optic tubercle (AOT), a visual glomerulus involved in colour and object processing in other taxa, relative to other visual integration centres the mushroom body calyces compared with aged socially naive wasps. Differences in developmental plasticity between visual and olfactory neuropil volumes are discussed in light of behavioural maturation in paper wasps, especially as it relates to social recognition. Previous research has shown that P. fuscatus need social experience to develop specialized visual processing of faces, which is used to individually recognize conspecifics. The present study suggests that the AOT is a candidate brain region that could mediate facial processing in this species.

Sex differences in face but not colour learning in Polistes fuscatus paper wasps

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole DesJardins ◽  
Elizabeth A. Tibbetts
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Polistes Fuscatus

The comparative biology of two sympatric paper wasps in Michigan, the native Polistes fuscatus and the invasive Polistes dominulus (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

2004 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Gamboa ◽  
M. A. Noble ◽  
M. C. Thom ◽  
J. L. Togal ◽  
R. Srinivasan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Biology ◽  
Paper Wasps ◽  
Polistes Dominulus ◽  
Polistes Fuscatus
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