Journal article
The Roles of Body Size and Dominance in Division of Labor among Workers of the Eusocial Wasp Polybia occidentalis (Olivier) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)
Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, Vol.68(1), pp.43-50
01 Jan 1995
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Dominance interactions among workers may influence division of labor within the worker caste of eusocial insect colonies. We examined the relationships between body size, dominance interactions, and age-based division of labor in the advanced eusocial (swarm-founding) wasp Polybia occidentalis (Olivier). Workers progressed through a series of task sets as they aged (age polyethism), but within task sets there was individual variability in the age of first task performance. Smaller-bodied workers passed through the age polyethism sequence more slowly: worker body size, as indicated by the length of the mesothoracic wing costa vein, bore a negative relationship with the age of first performance of tasks outside the nest. Larger-bodied workers therefore performed tasks that removed them from opportunities for direct reproduction in the nest interior at an earlier age. Smaller workers were also more likely to be dominant in observed social interactions, suggesting that patterns of social dominance are involved in structuring division of labor among P. occidentalis workers, with larger workers playing a subordinate role.
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Details
- Title
- The Roles of Body Size and Dominance in Division of Labor among Workers of the Eusocial Wasp Polybia occidentalis (Olivier) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)
- Creators
- S. O'DonnellR. L. Jeanne
- Publication Details
- Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, Vol.68(1), pp.43-50
- Publisher
- Kansas Entomological Society
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Identifiers
- 991020950449604721
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- Web of Science research areas
- Entomology