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Nest Usurpation
Nest usurpation is when the queen of one species of eusocial insects takes over the colony of another species. Cuckoo bumblebees (''Psithyrus'') and brood-parasitic paper wasps (e.g., ''Polistes sulcifer ''Polistes semenowi'' is a species of paper wasp in the genus ''Polistes ''that is found in southeastern and southern central Europe, as well as central Asia, and was until 2017 erroneously known by the name ''Polistes sulcifer'', while a differe ...'') are known for usurpation.Cervo R, Macinai V, Dechigi F, Turillazzi S. (2004). “Fast growth of immature brood in a social parasite wasp: a convergent evolution between avian and insect cuckoos”. ''American Naturalist'' 164 (6): 814–820. doi: 10.1086/425987. Nest usurpation most frequently occurs during the late pre-emergence stage of a nest. A foundress is a member of one species, usually female that finds a nest in the late pre-emergence stage and takes control of the colony of that nest. A usurper or queen is a member ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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Eusocial
Eusociality (from Greek εὖ ''eu'' "good" and social), the highest level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups. The division of labor creates specialized behavioral groups within an animal society which are sometimes referred to as 'castes'. Eusociality is distinguished from all other social systems because individuals of at least one caste usually lose the ability to perform at least one behavior characteristic of individuals in another caste. Eusocial colonies can be viewed as superorganisms. Eusociality exists in certain insects, crustaceans, and mammals. It is mostly observed and studied in the Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps) and in Blattodea (termites). A colony has caste differences: queens and reproductive males take the roles of the so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psithyrus
Cuckoo bumblebees are members of the subgenus ''Psithyrus'' in the bumblebee genus ''Bombus''. Until recently, the 28 species of ''Psithyrus'' were considered to constitute a separate genus. They are a specialized socially parasitic lineage which parasitises the nests of 'true' bumblebees, resulting in the loss of the ability to collect pollen and establish their own nests. Cuckoo bumblebees do not create a worker caste and produce only male and female reproductives. They are considered inquilines in the colonies of 'true' bumblebees. Cuckoo bumblebee females emerge from hibernation later than their host species to ensure that their host has had sufficient time to establish a nest. Before finding and invading a host colony, a ''Psithyrus'' female feeds directly from flowers until her ovaries are sufficiently developed, at which time she begins seeking a nest to invade. Once she has located and infiltrated a host colony, the ''Psithyrus'' female usurps the nest by killing or su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brood Parasitism
Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The evolutionary strategy relieves the parasitic parents from the investment of rearing young. This benefit comes at the cost of provoking an evolutionary arms race between parasite and host as they coevolve: many hosts have developed strong defenses against brood parasitism, such as recognizing and ejecting parasitic eggs, or abandoning parasitized nests and starting over. It is less obvious why most hosts do care for parasite nestlings, given that for example cuckoo chicks differ markedly from host chicks in size and appearance. One explanation, the mafia hypothesis, proposes that parasitic adults retaliate by destroying host nests where rejection has occurred; there is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polistes Sulcifer
''Polistes semenowi'' is a species of paper wasp in the genus ''Polistes ''that is found in southeastern and southern central Europe, as well as central Asia, and was until 2017 erroneously known by the name ''Polistes sulcifer'', while a different species was incorrectly believed to represent ''P. semenowi'' (this species has been named '' Polistes austroccidentalis''). It is one of only four known ''Polistes'' obligate social parasites, sometimes referred to as " cuckoo paper wasps", and its host is the congeneric species ''Polistes dominula''. As an obligate social parasite, this species has lost the ability to build nests, and relies on the host workers to raise its brood. ''P. semenowi'' females use brute force, followed by chemical mimicry in order to successfully usurp a host nest and take over as the queen. Taxonomy and phylogeny ''Polistes'' is the only genus in the tribe Polistini of the subfamily Polistinae. Species in this subfamily are one of several lineages often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metapolybia Cingulata
''Metapolybia cingulata'' (Fabricius, 1804) is a species of social paper wasp known for having queens who exhibit usurpation behaviors and also for having flexible behavior groups. It is difficult to tell what a specific wasp's role is just upon observation. Therefore, dissections are usually performed in order to determine the sex, and thus the wasp's role in the colony. The regulating behavior, or nest building, most closely resembles that of primitive ''Polistes'' models where a queen solicits liquid from a fellow worker and then takes pulp to initiate building a cell without leaving the nest. In nest building, the amount of water present in the nest as well as the activity of the builders of the nests determines the activity of the colony. Taxonomy ''Metapolybia cingulata'' is a member of the family Vespidae of eusocial wasps within the order Hymenoptera. Subfamily Polistinae is known commonly as "paper wasps". Genus ''Metapolybia'' contains 11 species, of which '' M. aztecoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insect Behavior
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. Their blood is not totally contained in vessels; some circulates in an open cavity known as the haemocoel. Insects are the most diverse group of animals; they include more than a million described species and represent more than half of all known living organisms. The total number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million; In: potentially over 90% of the animal life forms on Earth are insects. Insects may be found in nearly all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans, which are dominated by another arthropod group, crustaceans, which recent research has indicated insects are nested within. Nearly all insects hatch from eggs. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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