Life tables of colonies and workers in a paper wasp, Polistes Chinensis antennalis, in central Japan (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Nesting ecology of Polistes nimpha (Hymenoptera, Vespidae): a preliminary study in western Poland

“…The pattern of colony mortality during the season we observed in Poland is very similar to results of studies conducted in Italy for Polistes nimpha (Cervo and Turillazzi 1985) and in Japan for P. chinensis antennalis Pérez (Miyano 1980). In both localities mortality during the first phase of the colony cycle was significant but lower than that observed near Poznań.…”

“…Longer periods of high temperature in the nest are a factor enabling faster development of paper wasp larvae (Jeanne and Morgan 1992). This is crucial for the wasps because most of the colonies die during the pre-emergence phase, when there is only one queen (or, rarely, several queens) in the nest, so the defensive potential of the colony is very limited (Miyano 1980, Cervo and Turillazzi 1985, Kozyra et al 2015. Yamane and Kawamichi (1975) conducted similar studies for Polistes biglumis at the northern edge of its range in Japan.…”

Growth and survival of colonies of the Asian paper wasp,Polistes chinensis antennalis(Hymenoptera: Vespidae), in New Zealand

“…As for colonies of P. c. antennalis observed in Japan by Miyano (1980), no co-founding, multiple founding, or usurpation was observed in this study. Multiple founding of colonies is common in some Polistes species, including P .…”

“…We identified the solitary foundress stage as experiencing the highest mortality; this is also true fox P. c. antennalis in Japan (Miyano 1980). Foundress mortality at our two sites (65% and 78%) was, however, higher than in the Japanese study (43%; Miyano 1980).…”

“…The foundress continues cell construction and egg laying. Subordinate females can also lay eggs (Miyano 1980), but unfertilised females produce only haploid males (Page et al 1989). Unlike vespine wasps, there are no obvious morphological differences between worker and queen females.…”