Summary
In a previous paper we described a study under laboratory conditions of the pattern of development of the various categories of descendants during the life of a colony; the present study is particularly concerned with the duration of life-span of these various categories.
The life-spans of females showed a bimodal distribution and short-lived and long-lived wasps were distinguished. Considerable overlap was observed between the periods during which these two categories of wasp emerged.
A relationship was found to exist between the date of orphanship, the percentage of “short-lived” females and the sex ratio of the offspring. Colonies which lost their queen as early as June showed an increase in the number of descendants produced, but these descendants were predominantly male and, among the females, the majority were “short-lived”.
Resume
Dans un article précédent nous avons étudié au laboratoire la production des diverses catégories de descendants durant la vie de la colonie. Nous étudions ici plus particulièrement la durée de vie propre de ces diverses catégories.
La durée de vie des femelles montre une distribution bimodale et nous avons discerné des guêpes «à vie courte» et «à vie longue». Un chevauchement existe entre les phases de production de ces deux catégories.
Il existe une relation entre la date de l'orphelinage, la proportion des femelles «à vie courte» et le sex ratio de la descendance. Les colonies précocement orphelines ont, en fait, une descendance totale accrue, mais cette descendance est surtout mâle et parmi les femelles produites, les guêpes «à vie courte» sont les plus nombreuses.
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Gervet, J., Pratte, M., Semenoff, S. et al. Pattern of offspring production in colonies of paper wasps (Polistes gallicus L.) II. Demographic data hypotheses concerning fitness implications. Ins. Soc 33, 375–387 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02223946
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02223946