Food exchange between adults and larvae in Vespa orientalis F

Abstract

Colonies of Vespa orientalis cannot exist without the larvae or, more specifically, without larval salivary secretion, which is the only source of raw materials for nitrogen metabolism and egg production available to the workers and the queen, who do not themselves possess the proteases necessary for protein degradation. This finding suggests that social life among wasps is probably a symbiosis between the adults and larvae.