1962 Volume 12 Issue 5 Pages 187-190
This paper deals with the incipient behaviors observed in the superindividual stage of Polistine wasps which follows the solitary stage, the first stage in their life cycle, characterized by nest founding by each solitary female (YOSHIKAWA 1962). With the eclosion of the first worker, the life cycle of Polistes enters into the superindividual stage which lasts until the eclosion of females of the next generation. Various behaviors observed in the early period of this stage are described. Special attention was paid on the process of formation of division of labor among workers. From that the phenomenon of nest evacuation occurs mostly immediately before the transition of the life of Polistes from the solitary stage to the superindividual stage, it was considered to constitute a crisis in the life cycle.