Sex recognition does not modulate aggression toward nest intruders in a paper wasp

Author(s)

de Souza, Andre Rodrigues ; Franca, Wilson ; Prato, Amanda ; do Nascimento, Fabio Santos ; Brown, Grant

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: CURRENT ZOOLOGY; v. N/A, p. 8-pg., 2022-07-04.

Abstract

During social interactions, the behavior of an individual often depends on the sex of its social partner. Many animal societies have males and females that play very different behavioral roles, although they coexist and interact non-sexually. At specific phases of the colony cycle, social wasp females and males are contemporaries within a nest, they often interact, although mating occurs mostly off the nest, therefore providing an opportunity to test sex discrimination in contexts other than classical sexual ones. We performed a lure presentation experiment to test if Mischocyttarus metathoracicus discriminate between conspecifics of the 2 sexes during on-nest social interactions. Female wasps discriminated conspecific sex during experimentally simulated nest intrusions. Visual and chemical cues may account for this sex discrimination. Despite sex discrimination (evidenced by differential inspective behavior from the nest females toward the female and the male lures), female wasps were as aggressive toward lures of both sexes. In the female-dominated hymenopteran societies, males are often subordinate and not aggressive on nest, resulting in females directing less aggression to them compared to other females. Instead, M. metathoracicus males and females are both aggressive toward nestmates, so they might be perceived as similar threat during on-nest social interactions. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 20/14464-2 - Sexual selection in neotropical social wasps
• Grantee: André Rodrigues de Souza
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• FAPESP's process: 18/10996-0 - An Evo-Devo perspective on reproductive division of labour in wasps
• Grantee: Fábio Santos do Nascimento
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 19/08029-4 - A network analysis of dominance and colonial activity in Mischocyttarus metathoracicus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)
• Grantee: Wilson França de Oliveira Neto
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master