Sen, Ruchira and Gadagkar, Raghavendra (2011) Behavioural and morphological dimorphism of the sexes: an account of two primitively eusocial wasps. In: Journal of Natural History, 45 (21-22). pp. 1295-1309.
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In social Hymenoptera, foraging, nest building, brood care and all other colony maintenance functions are carried out by the females while males function solely as reproductives. This asymmetry in social roles of the two sexes has led social insect researchers to focus almost exclusively on the females whereas males have remained relatively neglected. We studied two sympatric, primitively eusocial wasps, Ropalidia marginata and Ropalidia cyathiformis, and compared the morphological and behavioural profiles of males and females. Males of both species are smaller in size and weigh less compared to females. Males of the two species live in the nest for different durations. Borrowing from the ecological literature we use novel methods to compute and compare behavioural diversity and behavioural richness and show that females of both species are behaviourally richer and more diverse than the males.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Journal of Natural History |
| Publisher: | Taylor and Francis Group |
| Additional Information: | Copyright of this article belongs to Taylor and Francis Group. |
| Keywords: | social wasps;behavioural diversity;behavioural richness; sexual dimorphism |
| Department/Centre: | Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Jun 2011 11:36 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Jun 2011 11:36 |
| URI: | http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/37802 |
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