A novel ‘sit and wait’ reproductive strategy in social wasps

@article{Starks1998AN,
  title={A novel ‘sit and wait’ reproductive strategy in social wasps},
  author={Philip T B Starks},
  journal={Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences},
  year={1998},
  volume={265},
  pages={1407 - 1410}
}
  • P. Starks
  • Published 7 August 1998
  • Biology
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
I present evidence indicating that a subset of spring females in the social wasp Polistes dominulus do not initiate colonies but rather ‘sit and wait’ to adopt colonies initiated and abandoned by other conspecifics. These results are, to my knowledge, the first to demonstrate conclusively this alternative reproductive strategy in social wasps. Individuals engaging in the sit–and–wait strategy behave selfishly by adopting the most mature nests available; such nests will produce workers sooner… 
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