We investigated the respiration patterns of wasps (Vespula sp.) in their viable temperature range (2.9-42.4°C) by measuring CO2 production and locomotor and endothermic activity. Wasps showed cycles of an interburst-burst type at low ambient temperatures (Ta<5°C) or typical discontinuous gas exchange patterns with closed, flutter and open phases. At high Ta of >31°C, CO2 emission became cyclic....

Some bees and wasps that host mites have peculiar pocket-like structures called acarinaria. These have long been considered as morphological adaptations to securely transfer beneficial mites into nests, and thus are thought to be the product of a mutualistic relationship. However, there has been little compelling evidence to support this hypothesis. We demonstrated that the parasitic mite Ensli...

Fig wasps (Agaonidae: Hymenoptera) are seed predators and their interactions with Ficus species (Moraceae) range from mutualism to parasitism. Recently considerable attention has been paid to conflicts of interest between the mutualists and how they are resolved in monoecious fig species. However, despite the fact that different conflicts can arise, little is known about the factors that influe...

Honeydew, the sugary exudate of the scale insect Ultracoelostoma brittini, is an important food source in black beech (Nothofagus solandri var. solandri) forests in the South Island of New Zealand. Two of the most prominent foragers of honeydew are honey bees (Apis mellifera) and wasps (Vespula germanica and V. vulgaris). Observations in the field and using a captive bee hive were used to inves...

Learning to live with unloved others is crucial in the ecological crisis. Unloved wasps are feared and disliked for their sting. Understanding of importance increasing, however. Human-wasp encounters changing environmental changes, strategies multispecies cohabitation needed. This study highlights features wasp biology affecting human-wasp analyzes how conflicted relations could be mitigated. T...

Following review of formicid characters a new model for evolution of ant eusociality is presented. This “semisocial ancestry hypothesis” has the following steps: (1) Ants are descended from a solitary wasp which accumulated and collectively reared its brood in acellular nests (without individual brood cells). Metapleural glands delivering antibiotic compounds evolved in adults as a correlated a...