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Modes of colony foundation by females of different morphotypes in the paper wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistes Latr.)

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Abstract

Paper wasps of the genus Polistes exhibit wide variability both of the color and size of foundresses, and the mode of colony foundation. The colony foundation and social hierarchy were studied in populations of two Palaearctic species, Polistes dominulus (Christ) and P. nimphus (Christ) (April–May 2006, the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine), and one Neotropical species, P. lanio (F.) (October 2004–January 2005, Trinidad Island). It was shown that foundresses of various color and size morphs tended to found nests in a peculiar way: singly (haplometrosis), by groups (pleometrosis), or occupying several nests simultaneously (polycaly). The relationship between coloration, size, and mode of colony foundation was species-specific. P. dominulus foundresses with a darker clypeus and a paler mesonotum preferred to found nests alone and had a dominant position in pleometrosis. The haplometrotic P. nimphus foundresses more often displayed darker variants of the clypeus and paler variants of the mesonotum than did foundresses from pleometrotic colonies. P. lanio foundresses from pleometrotic colonies differed from those from polycalic colonies in the coloration variability of the scutum, propodeum, and the 2nd metasomal tergite. The dominant and subordinate P. nimphus and P. lanio foundresses differed in the size of head and wings. The possible significance of the subdivision of foundresses into the “generalists” and “specialists” for the variability structuring in the population is considered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kherson State University, Kherson, 73000, Ukraine

    L. Yu. Rusina, I. Yu. Rusin, C. K. Starr, A. B. Fateryga & L. A. Firman

  2. The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine

    L. Yu. Rusina, I. Yu. Rusin, C. K. Starr, A. B. Fateryga & L. A. Firman

  3. Tauria National University, Simferopol, 95007, Ukraine

    L. Yu. Rusina, I. Yu. Rusin, C. K. Starr, A. B. Fateryga & L. A. Firman

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  1. L. Yu. Rusina
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  4. A. B. Fateryga
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Original Russian Text © L.Yu. Rusina, I.Yu. Rusin, C.K. Starr, A.B. Fateryga, L.A. Firman, 2007, published in Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 2007, Vol. 86, No. 4, pp. 750–772.

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Rusina, L.Y., Rusin, I.Y., Starr, C.K. et al. Modes of colony foundation by females of different morphotypes in the paper wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistes Latr.). Entmol. Rev. 87, 1155–1173 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0013873807090060

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