Behaviour and Social Evolution of Wasps The Communal Aggregation Hypothesis [Paperback]

In this book, It? presents data on tropical wasps which suggest that kin-selection has been overemphasized as an evolutionary explanation of sociality. He concentrates on the Vespidae (paper wasps and hornets), a group much discussed by evolutionary biologists because it exhibits all stages of social evolution: subsociality, primitive eusociality, and advanced eusociality. The author reports field observations by himself and others in Central America, Asia, and Australia, showing that multiple egg-layers in a nest are not uncommon. Because coexistence of many 'queens' leads to lower relatedness among colony members than in single-queen colonies, he suggests that kin-selection may not be the most powerful force determining observed social patterns. Instead, subsocial wasps may first have aggregated for defense purposes in habitats with a high risk of predation, with mutualistic associations among many queens. Through parental manipulation and then kin selection, differentiation into within-generation castes may have followed. Of interest to all students of ecology, evolution, and behavior, this book beautifully demonstrates the author's ability to combine wide-ranging data with thoughtful questions.

1. Systematics and Sociality of Wasps
2. Theories on the Evolution of Eusociality
3. Problems with the Kin-Selection Hypothesis
4. Comparison of Dominance Relations and Proportion of Multi-Female Nests in the Polistinae
5.Ropalidia fasciatain Okinawa, Japan
6. A Species with Flexible Social Relations
7. Social Relations in Wasp Colonies in the Wet Tropics
8. Polistine Wasps in Panama
9. Role of Multiple Comb Construction and Perennial Nature of Nests
10. Polistine Wasps in Australia
11. Multi-Queen Societies: Swarm-Founding Wasps in the Tropics
12. Social Lives of the Other Social Wasps
13. Origin of Pleometrosis
14. Altruism or Mutualism?
15. Manipulation of Progeny by Mother Groups
16. An Hypothesis for the EvlÓË