The Determinants of Dominance in a Primitively Eusocial Wasp

Nair, Padmini and Bose, Parthiba and Gadagkar, Raghavendra (1990) The Determinants of Dominance in a Primitively Eusocial Wasp. In: Social Insects and the Environment: Xll International Congress IUSSI, August, Bangalore, p. 79.

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Abstract

In many species of primitively eusocial wasps the position of an animal in the dominance hierarchy determines its role in the colony. Polistes gallicus, in which dominance hierarchies play an important role in social organisation, is the only species where an attempt has been made to study the determinants of dominance (1). Although an animal's position in the dominance hierarchy has been postulated to be less important in Ropalidia marginata (2), dominance hierarchies do exist and dominant-subordinate interactions are quite common (3). It may hence be of interest to study the determinants of dominance in this species. We have therefore begun to study the effects of body size, age, social experience and other factors in making an animal dominant or subordinate. We have maintained pairs of female R.marginata in laboratory cages and made behavioural observations to identify the dominant member and the egg-layer of each pair.

Item Type:	Conference Paper
Publisher:	Oxford and IBH
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Oxford and IBH.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	05 Jan 2007
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:33
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/9362

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