The comparative biology of two sympatric paper wasps, the native Polistes fuscatus and the invasive Polistes dominulus (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

摘要

Polistes dominulus (Christ), art old world paper wasp, was introduced accidentally into the eastern coast of the United States in the late 1970s and has been rapidly spreading westward, displacing the native P fisscatus (F.). The biology of naturally nesting P. fuscatus and P dominulus was compared at a field site in Rochester, Michigan. The basic methodology consisted of simultaneously videotaping spatially proximate, matched single-foundress colonies of P. fuscatus and P. dominulus (13 snatched sets, 176.8 h of videography). In addition, extensive surveys and censuses were taken of colonies to record colony productivity, dates of nest initiation and first worker emergence, usurpation and parasitism.