The yellowjacket, Vespula squamosa, is the only eusocial wasp that commonly has two social forms (single queen and multiple queen nests), has annual and perennial nests, facultatively usurps the nests of conspecifics, and parasitizes other vespine species. Thus V. squamosa is ideally suited for examining the ecological and genetic determinants of alternative social behaviors. Twenty annual and perennial nests were collected from various counties in Georgia and Florida, USA. All perennial nests had multiple queens whereas annual nests had single queens. Worker number in perennial nests varied from 700 to over 100,000, and all annual nests had less than 1,500 workers. The mean number of developed eggs in single queens was significantly greater than that in multiple queens (p < 0.001). Although queens from perennial nests had significantly larger eggs than single queens (p < 0.05), the workers from the latter nests were significantly larger and heavier (p < 0.001). Single queens did not differ in size from queens in perennial nests, except that the latter were not as physogastric; thus, there were significant differences between both social forms only insofar as weight (p < 0.001). DNA analyses indicate that multiple queen nests are composed of both sisters and unrelated queens accounting, in part, for low genetic relatedness among workers (r=0.12).
Species 1: Hymenoptera Vespidae Vespula squamosa
Keywords: relatedness, dimorphism
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