The nesting biology and population dynamics of the Seychelles potter wasp Eumenes alluaudi Perez

Abstract

Abstract. 1. The nesting biology of the solitary potter wasp Eumenes alluaudi was studied on Cousin Island, Seychelles.2. Although the rainy season was from October to April there was no indication of strong seasonality in the wasps' nesting.3. Females tended to nest close to where other females were nesting.4. The mean number of cells per nest was 3.71, the mean number of nests made per female 135, and the percentage of cells from which adults emerged 65.87; thus the mean number of adult wasps emerging from the nest(s) of each breeding female was 3.29.5. Male‐producing eggs were laid before female‐producing eggs and the estimated sex ratio at emergence was, at 1:2.52, female biassed. It is possible that inbreeding occurred.6. Daily mortality of nesting females was estimated as 0.088.7. The mean interval between a female's emergence and her starting to nest was 19.7 days.8. Marking showed that only 26.7 ± 6.3% of females emerging from cells in the study area returned to breed there. Since the number of emerging daughters per breeding female was only 5.01 times 0.66 times 0.72 = 2.36 (fecundity x proportion emerging x proportion of females emerging), the number of returning females would be only 236 times 0.267 = 0.63, and hence, in order to maintain numbers over many generations, 037 females must have been immigrants.