Caste and sex differences in cold-hardiness in the social wasps,Polistes annularis andP. exclamans (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Strassmann, Joan E.; Lee, R. E.; Rojas, Robert R.; Baust, John G.

doi:10.1007/bf02223613

Cited by 46 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…De acordo com Giannotti & Machado (1999) e Zara & Balestieri (2000) estudando colônias de P. lanio e P. versicolor, respectivamente, as rainhas dessas espécies permanecem a maior parte do tempo no ninho, sobre as células enquanto que as operárias gastam um tempo maior forrageando. Rainhas permanecem mais tempo no ninho, uma vez que evitam atividades de alto custo energético e risco, tais como forrageamento, as quais são desempenhadas pelas operárias (Strassmann et al 1984;O'Donnell 1998).…”

Section: Resultsunclassified

Divisão de trabalho em colônias da vespa social neotropical Polistes canadensis canadensis Linnaeus (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Torres¹,

Antonialli-Júnior²,

Giannotti³

2009

Rev. Bras. entomol.

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Section: Resultsunclassified

Divisão de trabalho em colônias da vespa social neotropical Polistes canadensis canadensis Linnaeus (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Torres¹,

Antonialli-Júnior²,

Giannotti³

2009

Rev. Bras. entomol.

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“…There is some physiological evidence suggesting the existence of pre-imaginal mechanisms that divide foundresses and workers in the genus Polistes (see O'Donnell, 1998): females emerging in late summer (presumably future foundresses) possess a storage protein of the hexamerine family (Hunt et al, 2003) and also fat bodies (Pardi, 1939;Eickwort, 1969;Litte, 1977;Strassmann et al, 1984;Grechka, 1986). In addition, foundresses and workers of P. dominulus differ in their proportions of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) (Bonavita-Cougourdan et al, 1991;Sledge et al, 2001) and peptides (Dapporto et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caste differences in venom volatiles and their effect on alarm behaviour in the paper waspPolistes dominulus (Christ)

Bruschini

Cervo

Protti

et al. 2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYFoundresses and workers of Polistes paper wasps show slight morphological and physiological differences. However, after the emergence of the workers, the castes can be readily discriminated by their behaviour: the dominant foundress is the principal egg-layer, whereas workers perform different tasks linked to colony development. Previous studies have demonstrated in this genus that defence of the colony by the workers is more effectively carried out by a collective response elicited by venom volatiles used as alarm pheromones. In the present study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses of the venom volatiles of foundresses and workers of Polistes dominulus (Christ) show predominantly quantitative differences. Spiroacetals, mainly (E,E)-2,8-dimethyl-1,7-dioxaspiro[5.5]undecane, are significantly higher in the venom volatiles fraction of workers, whereas the amount of N-(3-methylbutyl)acetamide is almost double in foundresses. On the basis of the chemical results, behavioural assays were performed on fifteen field colonies to test the alarm response of the resident wasps to venom extracts from foundresses and workers. Our behavioural results suggest that worker venom has a stronger alarm effect on the colonies than that of the foundresses, which seems unable to elicit the complete alarm response ending with a final attack and sting. The venom volatiles of P. dominulus workers serve mainly to alarm the colony whilst those of foundresses may also be linked to additional functions related to conspecific interactions.

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“…P. dominulus workers live an average of 30-40 days (30), whereas gynes, which become the next generation's foundresses and queens, live 250-500 days (31). P. exclamans gynes survived a cold test at 4.5-fold worker survival (32), and delayed reproduction is the hallmark of gynes, which do not reproduce until colony initiation the next year (33). Abundant fat has been used to distinguish gynes from workers of P. exclamans (32,34), and storage proteins have been found in gynes but not workers of several Polistes species (35).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…P. exclamans gynes survived a cold test at 4.5-fold worker survival (32), and delayed reproduction is the hallmark of gynes, which do not reproduce until colony initiation the next year (33). Abundant fat has been used to distinguish gynes from workers of P. exclamans (32,34), and storage proteins have been found in gynes but not workers of several Polistes species (35). These characteristics show clear correspondence to nondiapause and adult diapause (18) phenotypes of insects.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A diapause pathway underlies the gyne phenotype inPolisteswasps, revealing an evolutionary route to caste-containing insect societies

Hunt

Kensinger

Kossuth

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

146

125

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Colonies of social wasps, ants, and bees are characterized by the production of two phenotypes of female offspring, workers that remain at their natal nest and nonworkers that are potential colony reproductives of the next generation. The phenotype difference includes morphology and is fixed during larval development in ants, honey bees, and some social wasps, all of which represent an advanced state of sociality. Paper wasps (Polistes) lack morphological castes and are thought to more closely resemble an ancestral state of sociality wherein the phenotype difference between workers and nonworkers is established only during adult life. We address an alternative hypothesis: a bias toward the potential reproductive (gyne) phenotype among Polistes female offspring occurs during larval development and is based on a facultatively expressed ancestral life history trait: diapause. We show that two signatures of diapause (extended maturation time and enhanced synthesis and sequestration of a hexameric storage protein) characterize the development of gyne offspring in Polistes metricus. Hexameric storage proteins are implicated in silencing juvenile hormone signaling, which is a prerequisite for diapause. Diverging hexamerin protein dynamics driven by changes in larval provisioning levels thereby provide one possible mechanism that can cause an adaptive shift in phenotype bias during the Polistes colony cycle. This ontogenetic basis for alternative female phenotypes in Polistes challenges the view that workers and gynes represent behavior options equally available to every female offspring, and it exemplifies how social insect castes can evolve from casteless lineages.caste development ͉ hexameric storage proteins ͉ juvenile hormone ͉ life-history pleiotropy ͉ social behavior S ocial insects often show pronounced differences in behavior, physiology, and morphology between castes of workers (functionally sterile helpers) and reproductives (1).

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Caste and sex differences in cold-hardiness in the social wasps,Polistes annularis andP. exclamans (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Cited by 46 publications

References 16 publications

Divisão de trabalho em colônias da vespa social neotropical Polistes canadensis canadensis Linnaeus (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Divisão de trabalho em colônias da vespa social neotropical Polistes canadensis canadensis Linnaeus (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Caste differences in venom volatiles and their effect on alarm behaviour in the paper waspPolistes dominulus (Christ)

A diapause pathway underlies the gyne phenotype inPolisteswasps, revealing an evolutionary route to caste-containing insect societies

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