Why do workers of the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes chinensis antennalis remain at their natal nest?

Kumano, Norikuni; Kasuya, Eiiti

doi:10.1006/anbe.2000.1629

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Further, when the brood was presented in two separate locations the colony experienced fission (Kumano & Kasuya, 2001). Here, the presence of the queen and workers played no role whereas the presence of the brood strongly influenced the decision of nest maintenance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…In one other study on a paper wasp, the presence of brood, queen, and adult members were explored in the context of site selection. Given that in paper wasps brood is lodged inside cells, it was not possible to tease apart the influence of physical, chemical, and biological components in their selection (Kumano & Kasuya, 2001). As there are very few field relocation studies, the importance of colony associated factors in natural relocation and its role in nest-site selection have barely been explored (McGlynn, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Influence of colony associated factors on nest selection in an Indian queenless ant

Kaur

Annagiri

2014

Ecological Entomology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

1. Organisms face the difficult task of selecting an optimal new nest from the available options during relocation. Studies on honeybees and ants in their natural habitat indicate that scouts encounter multiple options that vary in their physical and biotic characteristics.2. Architectural features, location, odour, and the presence of nest mates impact their choice of nest site selection. In order to examine the influence of diverse parameters on final nest site selection we conducted choice experiments on ants in the context of relocation.3. After controlling for any influence by physical characteristics, we found that the presence of brood, adults, and colony odour acted as attractants with more colonies relocating into these new nests than expected by chance alone. In contrast, the presence of a reproductive female, or familiarity of location had no influence on the choice. New nests containing dead ants evoked cleaning responses from scouts, which may interfere with relocation into these nests.4. Even although colonies consist of hundreds of adults and brood, colony integrity was maintained in 98.7% of colonies. Furthermore, we found that none of the eight studied colonies relocated when faced with minor flooding in their natural habitat, indicating that the cost of relocation is non-trivial and that this species is capable of minor damage repairs.5. These observations highlight the complexity of relocation in general, allow the characterisation of desirable nest attributes in this species, and highlight the need for similar exploration in other social insects.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of colony associated factors on nest selection in an Indian queenless ant

Kaur

Annagiri

2014

Ecological Entomology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We divided nests into two halves after removing the broods as in our previous study (Kumano and Kasuya, 2001). The half-nests without immature broods (eggs, larvae and pupae) were abandoned, whereas those containing immature broods were maintained (Kumano and Kasuya, 2001). Even if the nests were not divided, those without broods were still abandoned (N. Kumano, pers.…”

Section: Effect Of Nest Divisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The daytime and nighttime censuses were conducted for 2 days and 7 days respectively, after the closed period except for on rainy nights. We defi ned a nest half as being maintained when at least one wasp was present because the wasps on the nest show nest maintenance behavior (Kumano and Kasuya, 2001;N. Kumano, pers.…”

Section: Observations After the Closed Periodmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An alternative strategy for maintenance of eusociality after nest destruction: new nest construction in a primitively eusocial wasp

Kumano

Kasuya

2006

Insect. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although nests are central to colonial life in social insects, nests are sometimes damaged by predators or natural disasters. After nest destruction, individuals usually construct new nests. In this case, a sophisticated mechanism like the scent trail pheromone used in large insect colonies that recruit individuals to new nest sites would be important for the maintenance of eusociality. In independent-founding Polistes wasps, it is well known that queens enforce workers physiologically on the natal nests even if evidence of trail pheromone use has not been exhibited. We investigated the effect of the queen on an alternative strategy for the maintenance of eusociality by fi rst females after nest destruction in the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes chinensis. We predicted that the fi rst females in queen-absent colonies have various behavioral options after nest destruction. Even if the females construct new nests cooperatively with other individuals, the new nest construction should be conducted more smoothly in queen-present colonies because the queens regulate the behavior of wasps. We made wasps construct new nests by removing the entire brood from existing nests. The presence of the queen did not cause variation in the alternative strategy of the fi rst females, as the fi rst females (workers) usually constructed new nests cooperatively irrespective of the queen-presence. Thus, the workers in the queenpresent colonies affi liated to the new nest construction more smoothly and constructed new nests more effi ciently than workers in the queen-absent colonies. Our results suggest that the presence of the queen is important for maintaining eusociality in primitively eusocial wasps after nest destruction.

show abstract

Eusocial Evolution in Termites and Hymenoptera

Howard

Thorne

2010

Biology of Termites: A Modern Synthesis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why do workers of the primitively eusocial wasp Polistes chinensis antennalis remain at their natal nest?

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Influence of colony associated factors on nest selection in an Indian queenless ant

Influence of colony associated factors on nest selection in an Indian queenless ant

An alternative strategy for maintenance of eusociality after nest destruction: new nest construction in a primitively eusocial wasp

Eusocial Evolution in Termites and Hymenoptera

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About