Polybia emaciata

Polybia emaciata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Vespidae
Subfamily:	Polistinae
Genus:	Polybia
Species:	P. emaciata
Binomial name
Polybia emaciata Lucas, 1879

Polybia emaciata is a neotropical swarm founding wasp that is mainly found in South America. This eusocial species has a unique colony structure in which multiple queens are present. Workers and queens are not morphologically distinct, but the high amount of relatedness maintained in the colony ensures that workers police each other. Polybia emaciata relies on a diet of liquid nectars which is supplemented with prey insects, particularly flies. It is well known for being one of only three wasp species in the genus Polybia that uses mud as the primary material for building its nest.Polybia emaciata is one of the least aggressive wasp species in the genus Polybia, and is known for its distinctive defensive behavior.

Polybia emaciata is part of the family Vespidae and the genus Polybia. It is one of 56 other species in the genus. This species is similar in appearance to many other species in the genus; however, it has a distinctive method of nest making. Unlike most other Polybia species, P. emaciata uses mud to build its nest instead of using plant resources. Other than its use of mud in nest making, it is similar in appearance to many other species in the genus. Other wasps in the species use plant resources to build their nest.

Polybia emaciata shares many morphological characteristics with Polybia singularis, another neotropical wasp species. Interestingly enough, the main differentiating aspect of this species is not its physical appearance but its nesting structure, which is famous for its closed pear shape and single circular opening at the bottom.

A unique characteristic of Polybia emaciata is that there are no distinct morphological differences between workers and queens. This causes caste totipotency, which means that any female could have the potential to become a queen. Small factors like head size have been identified as minor differences but the difference in head size is almost negligible. Worker head size is about 1.3 times bigger than queen head size.

Polybia emaciata is polygynous, which means that multiple queens will simultaneously occupy the same nest. However, not all of the queens end up reproducing and mating with males. As the number of males in a colony increases, the number of queens decreases. Queen number is highest when it is not time to reproduce, but as reproduction approaches the number of queens decreases.

Males found in Polybia emaciata nests are usually very young, which suggests that they are just coming into adulthood when they mate and then eventually leave the nest. During the reproductive time period in the nest all males are very young, which suggests that the older males have gone elsewhere and that these males were born in the nest. Males will be produced only when the number of queens in the nest is low. Therefore, males are produced during reproductive times.

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Wikipedia