Behavioral role differentiation in the primitively eusocial waspBelonogaster juncea juncea (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Abstract

With a view toward describing behavioral variability among individuals of the primitively eusocial speciesBelonogaster juncea juncea, we recorded the time-activity budget spent on five behavioral categories (foraging, building, feeding, inactivity, and reproduction) by 52 individuals belonging to four postemergence colonies. A principal-components analysis coupled with a hierarchical cluster analysis enabled us to discern four behavioral roles. The reproductive role is reserved to one individual (functional monogyny) and the workers’ role is differentiated into foragers, builders, and guards. The foragers are females that spend the most time (82.6% of their time) foraging, supplying the nest with prey load and liquid matter. The builders are individuals (with 41.5% of their time off the nest) that tend to bring pulp into the nest and then undertake building activities. The guards are those females that spend the most time (79.7% of their time) being inactive on the nest.