Biology of the Vespine Wasps

1. The Vespinae in Insect Sociology.- 1 Historical Review.- 2 The Vespine Wasps as Social Insects.- 2. Life Cycle.- 1 Features of the Life Cycle.- 2 Behavior of Queens Before Nest Foundation.- 2.1 Behavior of Queens Emerging from Hibernation.- 2.2 Migration Before Nesting.- 3 Nesting Periods.- 3.1 Preemergence (Solitary) Period.- 3.2 Cooperative Period.- 3.3 Polyethic Period.- 3.4 Reproductive Period.- 4 Hibernating Habits.- 4.1 Departure of New Queens and Males from Nest.- 4.2 Copulation.- 4.3 Hibernation.- 3. Nesting Habits.- 1 Nesting Materials.- 2 Nest Sites.- 2.1 Nest Sites of Each Genus and Species.- 2.2 Intra-and Interspecific Competition for Nest Sites.- 3 Colony Foundation.- 3.1 Haplometrotic Nest Foundation.- 3.2 Early Colony Development.- 3.3 Behavior of Foundress Queen.- 3.4 Conspecific Queen's Visit to Established Nests.- 3.5 Daily Activity of Foundress.- 3.6 Abnormal Nestings.- 4 Architecture and Function of Embryo Nests.- 4.1 Embryo Nest Architecture.- 4.2 Function of Embryo Nests.- 5 Development and Structure of Nest.- 5.1 Changes in Shape of Nest.- 5.2 Modification of Nest Site.- 5.3 Envelope.- 5.4 Combs.- 5.5 Pillars.- 5.6 Weather Stripping.- 6 Nest Relocation.- 6.1 Process of Relocation.- 6.2 Function of Relocation.- 7 Repair.- 7.1 Factor Dependency.- 7.2 Reconstruction.- 4. Social Structure and Behavior.- 1 Division of Labor Between Queen and Workers.- 1.1 Caste Differentiation.- 1.2 Behavioral Changes in Queen in Relation to Worker Emergence.- 1.3 Relationship Between Size of Colony and Division of Labor.- 2 Relation Between Labor and Age in Worker.- 2.1 Behavior of Workers Soon After Emergence.- 2.2 Orientation Flight.- 2.3 Day Age and Labor.- 2.4 Proportion of Time Spent in Each Activity.- 3 Oviposition by Workers.- 3.1 Worker Behavior After Loss of Foundress.- 3.2 Mechanism of Occurrence of Laying Workers.- 4 Behavior of Larvae.- 4.1 Orientation Within Cell.- 4.2 Behavioral Repertoire.- 4.3 Hunger Signal and Pattern of Feeding Habits.- 4.4 Origin of Hunger Signal.- 4.5 Comparison Between Species and Genera.- 5 Trophallaxis Between Larvae and Adults.- 6 Daily Activity of Workers.- 5. Foraging Behavior.- 1 Food Sources and Feeding Habits.- 1.1 Carbohydrate Sources.- 1.2 Protein Sources.- 1.3 The Search for Prey.- 1.4 Capture and Treatment of Prey.- 2 Dependence of Vespa tropica on Polistine Wasps.- 2.1 Objects of Attack.- 2.2 Collection of Prey.- 2.3 Phenology of Attack.- 2.4 Ratio of Polistes Nests Attacked by V. tropica.- 2.5 Period of Predation on Polistes Nests.- 2.6 Fate of Attacked Polistes Colonies.- 2.7 Restriction of V. tropica Colony Size in Temperate Regions.- 3 Group Predation by Vespa mandarinia.- 3.1 Phenology of Attacks.- 3.2 Predatory Habits.- 3.3 Foraging Distance.- 3.4 Ratio of Nests Attacked by V. mandarinia.- 3.5 Defense Strategy in Japanese Honeybee Apis cerana.- 3.6 Characteristics of Group Predation.- 4 Foraging Distance.- 5 Intra- and Interspecific Relationships at Tree Sap Apertures.- 5.1 Dominance Relationships Among Post-Hibernating Queens.- 5.2 Behavior Toward Other Insects.- 5.3 Occupation of Tree Apertures by Workers in Summer.- 6. Population Dynamics.- 1 Survivorship Curves of Workers.- 1.1 Length of Developmental Stage.- 1.2 Survivorship Curves.- 1.3 Fate of Brood at Emergence of Reproductives.- 2 Seasonal Changes in Population Structure.- 2.1 Number of Cells.- 2.2 Number of Individuals According to Developmental Stage.- 2.3 Colony Size.- 2.4 Duration of Life Cycle and Type of Life History.- 2.5 Seasonal Development of a Single V. tropica Colony.- 3 Production of Reproductives.- 3.1 Number of Reproductives Produced per Colony.- 3.2 Larva: Worker Ratio (L/W).- 4 Sympatry and Mechanism of Coexistence in Five Vespa Species.- 5 Survivorship of Colonies and Factors Influencing Mortality.- 5.1 Survivorship of Colonies.- 5.2 Mortality Factors.- 6 Annual Fluctuations in Number of Colonies.- 7. Life of Wasps in the Tropics.- 1 Life Cycle Characteristics.- 1.1 Asynchronism.- 1.2 Various Modes of Nest Foundation.- 1.3 Annual Life Cycle.- 1.4 Large Colony Size.- 1.5 Nest Architecture.- 2 Ecological Characteristics of Nocturnal Wasps Provespa.- 8. Social Parasitism.- 1 Vespine Social Parasites.- 2 Social Parasitism as an Adaptive Strategy.- 2.1 Why Usurp?.- 2.2 Fights over Attempted Usurpation.- 2.3 Behavior of Host and Parasite Queens.- 2.4 Adaptive Significance of Permanent and Temporary Parasitism.- 9. Natural Enemies.- 1 Main Natural Enemies.- 1.1 Predators of Adult Wasps.- 1.2 Endoparasites of Adults.- 1.3 Parasitoids and Predators Within Colonies.- 1.4 Predators on Colonies.- 2 Effect of Stylopization by Xenos spp.- 2.1 Host and Parasitism.- 2.2 Life History of Xenos spp.- 2.3 Activities of Stylopized Wasps in the Field.- 2.4 Intranidal Behavior of Stylopized Hornets.- 10. Phylogeny and Classification.- 1 Characters Used.- 2 Phylogenetic Position of the Vespinae.- 3 Phylogeny of the Vespinae.- 3.1 Phylogenies Proposed up to Now.- 3.2 Phylogenetic Relationships at Genus Level.- 3.3 The Common Ancestor of Vespula and Doliochovespula.- 4 List of the World's Vespinae.- 11. Distribution and Phylogeny.- 1 Distribution Pattern.- 1.1 Distribution of the Four Genera.- 1.2 Center of Diversification.- 1.3 Expansion of Vespa Range.- 1.4 Examples of Interspecific Competition.- 2 Similarity of Fauna in Eurasia and North America.- 2.1 Climate of Beringia.- 2.2 Vespine Distribution Patterns.- 2.3 Geographical Variations in High-Latitude Species.- 12. The Vespines and Man.- 1 Vespine Wasps as Nuisance Pests.- 1.1 Trouble Caused by Vespines in the USA and Europe.- 1.2 Trouble Caused by Vespines in Japan.- 1.3 Vespid Venoms.- 2 The Wasp as Enemy of the Honeybee.- 2.1 Damage-Inflicting Species.- 2.2 Type of Damage.- 3 The Wasp as Fruit Pest.- 3.1 The Wasp in Orchards.- 3.2 Damage-Inflicting Species.- 3.3 Type of Damage.- 4 The Wasp as Beneficial Insect.- 4.1 The Wasp as Food.- 4.2 Application of the Wasp as Predatory Insect.- 5 Control.- 5.1 Destruction or Removal of Colonies.- 5.2 Control by Insecticide Baits.- 5.3 Attracting Yellowjackets with Synthetic Chemicals.- 13. The Japanese Species.- 1 Identification.- 1.1 Characteristics of the Vespinae.- 1.2 Identification at Genus Level.- 1.3 Identification of the Japanese Species.- 2 The Japanese Vespinae.- 2.1 Vespa mandarinia Smith (Oo-suzumebachi).- 2.2 Vespa tropica (Linnaeus) (Hime-suzumebachi).- 2.3 Vespa analis Fabricius (Kogata-suzumebachi).- 2.4 Vespa affinis (Linnaeus) (Tsumaguro-suzumebachi).- 2.5 Vespa crabro Linnaeus (Mon-suzumebachi).- 2.6 Vespa simillima Smith (Kebuka-suzumebachi/ Kiiro-suzumebachi).- 2.7 Vespa dybowskii André (Chairo-suzumebachi).- 2.8 Vespula vulgaris (Linnaeus) (Kiobi-kurosuzumebachi).- 2.9 Vespula flaviceps (Smith) (Kuro-suzumebachi).- 2.10 Vespula shidai Ishikawa et al. (Shida-kurosuzumebachi).- 2.11 Vespula schrenckii (Radoszkowskii) (Tsuya-kurosuzumebachi).- 2.12 Vespula austriaca (Panzer) (Yadori-suzumebachi).- 2.13 Dolichovespula norvegicoides (Sladen) (Shiroobi-hoonaga-suzumebachi).- 2.14 Dolichovespula saxonica (Fabricius) (Nippon-hoonaga-suzumebachi).- 2.15 Dolichovespula adulterina (Buysson) (Yadori-hoonaga- suzumebachi).- 2.16 Dolichovespula media (Retzius) (Kiobi-hoonaga-suzumebachi).- 3 Distribution in Japan.- References.- Author Index.- Taxonomic Index.