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The Mechanism of Queen Regulation of Foraging by Workers in Paper Wasps ( Polistes fuscatus , Hymenoptera: Vespidae)
Author(s) -
Gamboa George J.,
Wacker Tracy L.,
Scope Julie A.,
Cornell Thomas J.,
ShellmanReeve Janet
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0310.1990.tb00412.x
Subject(s) - vespidae , foraging , eusociality , brood , hymenoptera , biology , polistes , paper wasp , aculeata , zoology , queen (butterfly) , ecology
We examined how queens of the primitively eusocial wasp, Polistes fuscatus , stimulate foraging by workers in 10 small, post‐worker‐emergence field colonies. We experimentally increased colony needs, including needs of the brood, by removing a colony's most active foragers (thereby decreasing the colony's foraging rate), and found that the queen significantly increased both her level of activity and rate of aggressive interactions. Most aggressive interactions were directed at dominant workers. Removal of a colony's least active foragers, however, produced no such effect. Our results, together with those of Reeve & Gamboa (1983, 1987), indicate that queens are sensitive to brood needs, and that they behaviorally regulate worker foraging to match brood needs by increasing their level of activity and rate of aggressive interactions.