| The common paper wasp |
| all images are copyright E.A. Tibbetts & J. Dale |
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Wasp faces are "badges of status": signals which reveal size and dominance. |
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"Badges of status" are well known signals in many different vertebrates. |
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In the wasps, we wondered what keeps the relationship between facial patterns and dominance honest. One important hypothesis is that such signals impose "social costs" incurred through repeated agonistic interactions. To test this we evaluated whether "cheater" wasps, wasps which falsely advertise their dominance, get punished. |
We painted wasps to experimentally create "cheaters". |
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"Cheater" betas received more aggression from alphas than controls. |
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Dominance is a key feature in the lives of these highly social insects. Their badges of status probably plays an important role in settling conflict in many contexts including the order of queen succession, division of labour, sharing of food and the probability of becoming a future queen. |
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