Soil softness, nest initiation and nest sharing in the wasp, Cerceris antipodes (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)

Abstract

1. The relationship between soil softness and nest initiation was studied at two aggregations of a ground nesting sphecid wasp, Cerceris antipodes Smith, in New South Wales, Australia.2. Nests of C.antipodes were initiated throughout the active season. Nests were started more frequently during moist conditions and when more wasps were active.3. Nest initiation was clumped on days after periods of rain. Nest initiation was only observed when the soil was soft.4. Two experimental plots that were watered had significantly softer soil and more nests initiated on them than two control plots. Searching female wasps spent considerably more time on the watered plots than the controls. 5 . Nest initiation through hard surface soils presents a problem to C.anripodes. Soil softness must be considered in any analysis of nest sharing in this species.

Provisioning patterns and choice of prey in the digger wasp Cerceris arenaria (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae): the role of prey size

“…The nests often occur in large aggregations (Evans, 1971;Alcock, 1975;Willmer, 1985;McCorquodale, 1989;Polidori et al, in prep.). In general, a nest is progressive (the older cells are closest to the surface of the soil), but in some species regressive nesting (the older cells are the deepest in the ground) is known (Salbert & Elliot, 1979;Byron & Asís, 1997).…”

Solitary and group nesting in the orchid bee Euglossa hyacinthina (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

“…Additionally, costs associated with solitary nesting also may favor group nesting. For instance, the need for shared nest defence (Lin and Michener, 1972;Alexander, 1974;Abrams and Eickwort, 1981), limited nest site availability (McCorquodale, 1989;Banschbach and Herbers, 1996) and costly nest construction (Eickwort, 1981;McCorquodale, 1988;Strassmann et al, 1988) all favor nest cohabitation because females who nest together may realize increased fitness. We investigated the first of these as a factor promoting group-nesting behaviour.…”

Costs and benefits of joint colony founding in Australian Acacia thrips

“…Working in groups may reduce these costs if multiple females construct a domicile more rapidly and/or individual energetic investment declines with group size. Similar benefits of group nesting have been proposed for bees and wasps that dig burrows in arid environments (McCorquodale, 1989;Wcislo, 1997), and for mites that also build a silken enclosure (Saito, 1997). This hypothesis is, of course, predicated on the fact that all foundresses contribute to the construction of a domicile.…”

“…A number of benefits of pleometrosis have been identified including: (1) increased foundress survival (Waloff, 1957;Mintzer, 1987;Jerome et al, 1998;Tibbetts and Reeve, 2003;Johnson, 2004), (2) protection from parasites and predators during brood development (Abrams and Eickwort, 1981;Soucy et al, 2003) (3) higher per capita offspring production (Schwarz et al, 1998;Tierney et al, 2000), (4) larger eventual colony size, which may be advantageous in interactions with conspecifics or predators (Gamboa, 1978;Bartz and Holldobler, 1982;Thorne, 1982;Tschinkel and Howard, 1983;Rissing and Pollock, 1987;Adams and Tschinkel, 1995;Jerome et al, 1998;), or allow for more efficient acquisition of resources (Cahan and Julian, 1999;Cahan, 2001) (5) reduction of costs associated with nest construction and maintenance (Abrams and Eickwort, 1981;McCorquodale, 1989;Pfennig, 1995;Cahan, 2001), or the ability to repair nest damage more rapidly (Strassmann, 1988), and (6) insurance-based advantages that result because the probability of total nest failure decreases with larger group size, or because an individuals investment can be preserved after her death by remaining group members (Gadagkar, 1990;Reeve, 1991;Queller, 1994;Tibbetts and Reeve, 2003). These considerations suggest that diverse ecological circumstances can select for pleometrosis.…”