Natural History and Evolution of Paper-Wasps

1. Polistes: analysis of a society ; 2. Phylogeny and biogeography of Polistes ; 3. Learning, individual programs, and higher-level rules in construction of behaviour of Polistes ; 4. Ecological factors influencing the colony cycle of Polistes ; 5. Social parsitism and its evolution in Polistes ; 6. Lek-like courtship in paper-wasps; 'a prolonged, delicate, and troublesome affair' ; 7. Homing in paper wasps ; 8. The evolution of exocrine gland function in wasps ; 9. Kin recognition in social waps ; 10. The role of cuticular hydrocarbons in social insects: is it the same in paper wasps? ; 11. Selective altruism towards closer over more distant relatives in colonies of the primitively eusocial wasp, Polistes ; 12. Behavioural screening and the evolution of polygyny in paper wasps ; 13. The origin and maintenance of eusociality: the advantage of extended parental care ; 14. Polistes in perspective: comparative social biology and evolution in Belanogaster and Stenogastrinae ; 15. The evolution of eusociality, including a review of the social status of Ropalidia marignata ; 16. Wasps make nests: nests make conditions ; 17. Wasp societies as microcosms for the study of development and evolution ; 18. Some epistemological reflections on Polistes as a model organisms ; References