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- Title
Caste differences and morphological skew in the swarm-founding wasp Agelaia timida Cooper, 2000 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini).
- Authors
NOLL, FERNANDO B.; DA SILVA, MARJORIE; SOMAVILLA, ALEXANDRE; CARPENTER, JAMES M.
- Abstract
Here, we tested the application of morphological skew in Agelaia timida by reporting caste dimorphism and comparing it with other epiponine species. A description of a nest of A. timida is also provided. Females were measured to investigate morphological differences between castes and dissected to assess ovarian development. Three types of ovaries were found: filamentous (workers), developed with some mature oocytes (intermediates), and developed and inseminated (queens). Queens are bigger than workers, but discriminant analysis showed castes are not morphologically distinct. Mahalanobis distance showed a statistical separation between inseminated and non-inseminated females, and the only distinct group was workers. The results differ from other species of Agelaia, which present clear-cut caste differences. Thus, A. timida fits into morphological skew theory since it forms small colonies with low caste differentiation and nonsterility of workers. These features, plus the presence of a true envelope, may be plesiomorphic, as observed in the ground plan of Epiponini.
- Subjects
CASTE; VESPIDAE; HYMENOPTERA; FOUNDING; DISCRIMINANT analysis; OVARIES
- Publication
American Museum Novitates, 2024, Vol 2024, Issue 4017, p1
- ISSN
0003-0082
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1206/4017.1