Division of labor in stable social hierarchy of the independent-founding wasp Mischocyttarus (Monocyttarus) cassununga, Von Ihering (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Abstract

In colonies of independent-founding wasps, social organization is characterized by a division of labor wherein the most dominant female (the queen) spends more time on the nest comb during its development, while the subordinates (workers) perform most of the foraging. The present study aimed at describing how tasks are assigned among the members of colonies of Mischocyttarus cassununga (Von Ihering) during the post-emergence phase. For this, we daily tape recorded the behavioral repertoire of thirteen colonies in the field, later analyzing the results of each colonial subphase with Statistic analysis (Principal Component Analysis, Clustering Analysis and ANOVA - Tukey-Kramer t-test p<0.05). Our results showed that the assignment of tasks in M. cassununga generally reflects the dominance hierarchy. Despite of the behavioral flexibility of basal eusocial wasps, it was possible to identify different groups of subordinate females (workers) in the colony. The division of labor during the pre-male subphase was delineated with four defined groups whereas the post-male subphase with three groups. Pre-male: G1 - a dominant group of reproductive females, G2 - a group of higher hierarchically subordinate females (these can sometimes perform tasks very similar to the queens), G3 - a subordinate group of forager females, and G4 - a subordinate group of inactive and principally young wasps. Post-male: G1, G2 and G3 (similar groups during pre-male subphase, but without G4. We think these analyses suggest a novel view of the importance of the behavioral repertoire of higher hierarchically subordinate females in wasp nests, at least in the genus Mischocyttarus.

The effect of age on non-reproductive division of labour in the tropical primitively eusocial wasp, Ropalidia cyathiformis

“…Hence there is no trade-off between the intra-and extranidal tasks, making their age polyethism less striking or weaker than is seen in highly eusocial species. The fact that R. cyathiformis has such a a weak age polyethism seems to be in keeping with what we already know in other primitively eusocial wasps where there is either a rudimentary age polyethism Age polyethism in Ropalidia cyathiformis 271 (Cameron, 1989;Cecílio et al, 2016;Dew and Michener, 1981;Jeanne, 1991;Murakami et al, 2013;Torres et al, 2012;Torres et al, 2013;Tsuchida, 1991;Yoshikawa, 1963) or no age polyethism present as in the case of Belonogaster petiolata (Keeping, 1992) and Mischocyttarus latior (Cecílio et al, 2016).…”

“…The two intranidal tasks are initiated before the two extranidal tasks and there is a specific sequence of task initiation. The trend of performing intranidal tasks and then progressing to extranidal task as they age is a common theme in other primitively eusocial species (Cameron, 1989;Cecílio et al, 2016;Dew and Michener, 1981;Jeanne, 1991;Murakami et al, 2013;Torres et al, 2012Torres et al, , 2013Tsuchida, 1991;Yoshikawa, 1963). It is intuitive to understand why the intranidal tasks might be initiated before the extranidal tasks, as it is riskier and costlier to perform tasks outside the nest where they might be exposed to predators.…”

The Disappearance of Eggs and Larvae from the Nests of the Mischocyttarus (Monogynoecus) montei Zikán (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), Especially in Autumn and Winter: Can it Mean an Adaptive Cannibalism to Ensure the Survival of Colonies?

“…The genus Mischocyttarus, Polistes and most part of the genus Ropalidia found nests by haplometrosis (only one female) or by pleometrosis (a group of females) (Jeanne, 1972;Richards, 1971Richards, , 1978. Colonies are usually characterized by absence of age polietism (Jeanne, 1980), the social hierarchy is established through behaviors of dominance and subordination (Richards, 1971(Richards, , 1978Jeanne, 1972;Noda et al, 2001;Prezoto et al, 2004;Murakami & Shima, 2006, 2010Costa-Filho et al, 2011;Oliveira et al, 2012), there are no morphological differentiation between female castes (Murakami et al, 2009) and all adult individuals show a plasticity on the social role in the colony (Richards, 1971;Jeanne, 1972;Cowan, 1991;Murakami & Shima, 2006, 2010Costa-Filho et al, 2011;Murakami et al, 2013).…”

Papel da atividade forrageadora sobre a longevidade e entropia demográfica da vespa social Mischocyttarus cassununga (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

“…De acordo com Prezoto et al (2004), suas colônias apresentam organização social mais simples do que espécies derivadas e raramente excedem uma centena de indivíduos. Vespas dominantes desta espécie passam mais tempo no ninho, enquanto as subordinadas executam a maioria das atividades de forrageio (Murakami et al, 2013).…”