ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews knowledge of pheromones in the social wasps. Because many species of social wasps live in enclosed or underground nests where visual signaling is not feasible, they rely heavily on chemical communication. Social insects rely extensively on pheromonal communication. Sex pheromones elicit a variety of behavior patterns directly related to mating, including mate-finding and mate-selection. Sex pheromones are thought to mediate attraction and orientation behavior in Vespinae and are reported for several species. In the Vespinae there is a general lack of evidence of the overt dominance behavior that occurs in Polistes species. Males of Polistes exclamans exhibit upwind flight in response to live conspecific females, female odor, or solvent extract of females. Males of Polistes species are well known to patrol and defend territories and perches in areas frequented by females. In social wasps, the principal courtship pheromone responses tested are mounting and copulatory attempts.
