Summary
We studied interspecific alarm communication between two species of social wasps in a nesting association in northwestern Costa Rica by testing the alarm responses ofPolybia occidentalis andMischocyttarus immarginatus to venom of both species. This is the first investigation of alarm pheromone in the genusMischocyttarus. M. immarginatus did not respond with alarm behavior to the venom of either species.P. occidentalis, which responds to its own venom with alarm behavior (Jeanne, 1981), also responded with alarm behavior to the venom ofM. immarginatus, but with much less intensity. Since heterospecific venoms did not release species-typical levels of alarm behavior, we conclude that interspecific alarm signalling plays no role in the nesting association.
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London, K.B., Jeanne, R.L. Alarm in a wasp-wasp nesting association: Do members signal cross-specifically?. Ins. Soc 43, 211–215 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01242572
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01242572