Diptera.info

Posted by Alvesgaspar on 10-10-2007 00:45

Last weekend I spent a whole hour observing a group of paper wasps that seemed to be playing in the sun. Whenever one of them set down on a leave there was another that came over it as if attacking or trying to mate. The first image shows one of those meetings. I really don't know if this is the time for nupcial flights or even if there were males and females in the group. In the sting of one of them there is something that looks like a drop: of venom or of semen? I'm sure there will someone capable of interpreting the situation better than me. The second picture shows a detail of the head for helping identification. I think it is a Polistes sp., maybe a P. Gallicus, but I'm not sure.

Thank you,

Joaquim Gaspar

Posted by pierred on 10-10-2007 07:01

Hello,

On the first picture, if I don't make a mistake, there are two males (curved end of the antenna). The second is a female (straight antennas).

Posted by Alvesgaspar on 10-10-2007 10:27

pierred wrote:
Hello,

On the first picture, if I don't make a mistake, there are two males (curved end of the antenna). The second is a female (straight antennas).

Well, if they are males it can't be a sting with venom. Either it is just some light effect in the eye of the other wasp or it might be sperm (?). Anyway, this frentic activity could also be some sort of male competition for the females.

Need your help, Christian ! :p

Posted by Christian Schmid-Egger on 13-10-2007 08:09

Oh, my contribution did disapear. In brief: I cannot contribute anything about the bevavior. Probably it is a mating or pre-mating behavior. About the species: All specimens on the photos are males of a Polistes, most probably of P. gallicus, but P. dominilus is also probable. (fore male recognitzion, see also number of gaster segments: male 7, female 6, but antennal character is also fine, and face in Polistes males is all yellow).

Regards, Christian