All work, no play for hairy-faced hover wasps.

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  • Author(s): Hooper, Rowan
  • Source:
    New Scientist. 5/13/2006, Vol. 190 Issue 2551, p9-9. 1/2p. 1 Color Photograph.
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
      WASPS; INSECTS; INSECT behavior; HEREDITY; BIOLOGY
    • Abstract:
      The article reports that Jeremy Field and colleagues at University College London, England, have found that the hairy-faced hover wasp, Liostenogaster flavolineata, has a hierarchical system in which the older wasps near the top work less than the lowly young wasps at the bottom. The queen reproduces and the others gather food to feed her larvae. When Field's team removed the second-in-line female, it had the effect of promoting the female that was third. After promotion, she foraged for only 27 per cent of the time. While it is well known that animals help their kin in order to propagate the "family" genes, the future prospects of individual animals should also be taken into account to more fully understand social behaviour, such as aggression.