ABSTRACT

The social wasps differ from most species in the other major eusocial insect groups-termites, social bees, and ants-in several ways that affect foraging. First, their nests are constructed virtually entirely from foraged materials, typically some kind of vegetable ber, although a few species of Polybia use mud (Richards 1978). Second, the diet of the social wasps is the least derived from that of the common ancestor of ants, bees, and wasps. That is, the wasps are the most carnivorous of the social insects, obtaining virtually all of their protein requirements from animal sources. Like bees and ants, however, they also require carbohydrates, particularly sugars. Finally, the wasps are unusual in that they appear to lack any of the sophisticated mechanisms of recruitment to resources that characterize many of the termites, bees, and ants.