Biological and Behavioural Features of the Stenogastrinae (Hover Wasps) in a Particular Evolutionary Route to Eusociality in the Family Vespidae

TL;DR

This paper explores the unique eusocial traits of hover wasps (Stenogastrinae) and their distinct evolutionary path compared to other social wasps in the Vespidae family.

Contribution

The paper highlights the distinct phenotypic features of Stenogastrinae wasps, confirming their independent evolutionary lineage to eusociality.

Findings

Stenogastrinae represent an independent evolutionary lineage to eusociality in Vespidae.

The University of Florence's research reveals unique biological and behavioral traits in hover wasps.

Eusociality in Stenogastrinae differs from that in Polistinae and Vespinae subfamilies.

Abstract

Eusociality is a biological condition that we find in only three subfamilies of the family Vespidae: that of the Polistinae, that of the Vespinae and that of the Stenogastrinae. Recently, molecular data have confirmed that the evolutionary lineage of the latter is independent from that of the other two. The present work reports the biological, physiological and behavioural characteristics of the eusociality of hover wasps provided in large part, in more than forty years of research, by the group of the University of Florence.

In the family of Vespidae there are examples of social evolution that are particular, compared to those found among other social insects. The characteristics of eusociality are, however, found only in three subfamilies, those of Stenogastrinae, Vespinae and Polistinae, but the problem of whether eusociality appeared one or two times has long been debated. Biomolecular analysis studies have definitively demonstrated that the Stenogastrinae are the representatives of a social lineage completely independent from that of the Polistinae and the Vespinae. In the present paper, I want to emphasize the various phenotypic characteristics, especially studied by the group for the study of social insects of the University of Florence, which make these social wasps different from the others.

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