Quantitative differences in nourishment affect caste-related physiology and development in the paper wasp Polistes metricus.

ABSTRACT: The distinction between worker and reproductive castes of social insects is receiving increased attention from a developmental rather than adaptive perspective. In the wasp genus Polistes, colonies are founded by one or more females, and the female offspring that emerge in that colony are either non-reproducing workers or future reproductives of the following generation (gynes). A growing number of studies now indicate that workers emerge with activated reproductive physiology, whereas the future reproductive gynes do not. Low nourishment levels for larvae during the worker-rearing phase of the colony cycle and higher nourishment levels for larvae when gynes are reared are now strongly suspected of playing a major role in this difference. Here, we present the results of a laboratory rearin

SUBMITTER: Judd TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4338145 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature