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Insectes Sociaux

, Volume 30, Issue 1, pp 57–69 | Cite as

Combativeness among oriental hornet queens

  • J. S. Ishay
  • Z. A. Dotan
  • A. Pinchasov
Article
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Summary

Queens of the Oriental hornet are aggressive towards one another in the beginning of the active season, during the months of May, June and July: they defend their “Lebenraum” within the nest and do not enable any other queen to enter their territory. At that period any encounter between two queens, whether within the nest of the one or anawhere else, releases mutual aggressive behavior. The ensuing combat may last for hours and in its course, if the one queen beats the other, it stings it to death in the neck. In many instances, however, the combat remains unresolved and the exhausted combatants withdraw to recuperate before resuming their battle. At other times, one of the queens may succeed in maiming its rival by amputating the tips of its limbs at which point the disabled queen concedes the fight by assuming an “inferior” posture towards the victor and making a food offering. The various phases in the combat between queen pairs are described in detail.

Keywords

Aggressive Behavior Defend Avant Active Season Food Offering 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

La combativité des reines du frelon oriental

Resume

Les reines du frelon oriental sont agressives l'une envers l'autre au début de la saison active, pendant les mois de mai, juin et juillet: elles défendent leur “Lebenraum” à l'intérieur du nid et ne permettent à aucune autre reine de pénétrer dans leur territoire. A cette période, toute rencontre de 2 reines, dans le nid de l'une ou dans tout autre endroit, déclenche un comportement agressif mutuel. Le combat qui s'ensuit peut durer des heures et dans son déroulement, si l'une des reines défait l'autre elle la pique au cou jusqu'à la mort. Cependant, dans de nombreux exemples, le combat n'apporte pas de solution: les combattants épuisés se retirent avant de reprendre le combat. D'autres fois, l'une des reines peut réussir à mutiler sa rivale en amputant l'extrémité de ses pattes. La reine estropiée abandonne le combat en adoptant une posture d' “infériorité” à l'égard du vainqueur et en offrant de la nourriture. Nous avons décrit en détail les différentes phases du combat entre les reines mises par deux.

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Copyright information

© Masson 1983

Authors and Affiliations

  • J. S. Ishay
    • 1
  • Z. A. Dotan
    • 1
  • A. Pinchasov
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler School of MedicineTel-Aviv UniversityRamat Aviv(Israël)
  2. 2.Central Laboratories of Medical and Scientific Photography, Sackler School of MedicineTel-Aviv UniversityRamat Aviv(Israël)

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