Morphological caste differences in the neotropical swarm-founding Polistinae wasps:Agelaia m. A. multipictaandA. p. pallipes(Hymenoptera Vespidae)

摘要

Distinct size dimorphism was found between queens (inseminated egglayers) and workers (uninseminated non egg-layers) sampled from mature colonies ofAgelaia pallipesand A.A. multipicta. In both species, among 22 measured body parts queens were larger than workers in 17 characters. The Mahalanobis' distance (D2) between castes was 122.74 inA. pallipesand 110.99 in A.A. multipicta, giving clear-cut evidence of caste separation, a conclusion which is strengthened by the absence of intermediate females. Comparisons withA. vicinaandA. flavipennisdemonstrated that morphological castes attributes are less developed in A. pallipes and A.A. multipicta.