Observations on the Social Wasps of South America (Hymenoptera Vespidae)

More than one inseminated female in colonies of the independent-founding wasp Mischocyttarus cassununga von Ihering (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

“…The fat body was demonstrated to be of great importance to understand the particularities of each caste (Röseler 1991), mainly because it is the principal tissue for storing energy (Paes de Oliveira 2005). Additionally, numerous studies have considered and employed the inseminated state as the main criterion for distinguishing queens from workers (Richards & Richards 1951;Shima et al 1994Shima et al , 1996a O'Donnell 1998a; Shima et al 1998Shima et al , 2000a. Wheeler (1996) found that oogenesis can be regulated by several key factors in a social context: nutrition, degree or nature of activity, mating, season, and conspecifics.…”

“…The queen is the female in the nest presenting the most prominently developed ovary, and it usually dominates all the other females (workers) through agonistic behaviours, extensively monopolizing the reproductive yield of the colony (Pardi 1948;Jeanne 1972;Strassmann & Meyer 1983;O'Donnell 1998a, b). Consequently, very often the ovarian development of the subordinate workers is negatively affected by this action of the dominant female (functional queen) (Pardi 1948;Richards & Richards 1951). This way, as other studies have shown (Pardi 1948;Röseler et al 1985), the hierarchical position of a wasp frequently depends More than one inseminated female in colonies of the independent-founding wasp Mischocyttarus cassununga von Ihering (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) ABSTRACT.…”

Association among wasps' colonies, ants and birds in Central Amazonian

“…We hypothesize that one advantage of these associations is the protection given by the ants to the wasps, contributing to the wasps' reproductive success, since ants may repel the approach of predators to the colony. Richards & Richards (1951) reported that nesting in association with Azteca ants may be one of the few defense modes found in tropical wasps against attacks by predatory army-ants (Ecitoninae). According to Jeanne (1978) nest aggregation is common in this kind of wasp.…”

Local-scale spatial variation in diversity of social wasps in an Amazonian rain forest in Caxiuanã, Pará, Brazil (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae)

“…As such, it is also a factor of great concern within the context of biological conservation (Hartley & Kunin 2003;Rabinowitz et al 1986). While local rarity seems to be a real condition for many species of the Caxiuanã wasp fauna, these species are also generally known to have relatively wide distributions in the Amazon basin (Richards 1978), except for the unidentified and possibly new species, about which little information is available (mostly of Mischocyttarus). On the other hand, many of these species are probably dependent on relatively undisturbed forest habitats, presenting a situation of great concern that involves a combination of wide geographical ranges with small or rarified local populations, and dependence on a yet widespread but highly threatened forest habitat.…”