The role of larval nutrition in pre-imaginal biasing of caste in the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Gadagkar, Raghavendra and Bhagavan, Seetha and Chandrashekara, K and Vinutha, C (1991) The role of larval nutrition in pre-imaginal biasing of caste in the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). In: Ecological Entomology, 16 (4). pp. 435-440.

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Abstract

1. When freshly eclosed females of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata (Lep.) are isolated, only about 50% of them build nests and lay eggs thereby suggesting a pre-imaginal biasing of caste. 2. Wasps that lay eggs take a very variable amount of time after eclosion to start doing so. 3. Females eclosing from nests where larvae are fed at a relatively higher rate are more likely to become egg-layers and are likely to take less time after eclosion to begin to lay eggs. 4. Thus, both forms of pre-imaginal biasing of caste, namely, differences in egg laying capacity and differences in the time taken to attain reproductive maturity, appear to be influenced by larval nutrition.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Ecological Entomology
Publisher:	John Wiley & Sons
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to John Wiley & Sons.
Keywords:	Larval nutrition;pre-imaginal caste bias;primitively eusocial wasp;Ropalidia marginata.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	07 Dec 2010 06:25
Last Modified:	07 Dec 2010 06:25
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/34249

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