Polybioides tabidus
| Polybioides tabidus | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Vespidae |
| Subfamily: | Polistinae |
| Tribe: | Ropalidiini |
| Genus: | Polybioides |
| Species: | P. tabidus |
| Binomial name | |
|
Polybioides tabidus (Fabricius, 1781) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Polybia bucula Buysson, 1902 |
|
Polybia bucula Buysson, 1902
Polybia isabellina Schulthess, 1913
The African swarm-founding wasp, Polybioides tabidus, is a social paper wasp from the order Hymenoptera that is typically found in Central Africa. This wasp is unique in that it exhibits cyclical oligogyny, meaning queen number varies with colony cycle. After several generations of production of workers and future queens, a subset of many workers and queens leave the original colony to begin a new one. The new colony does not produce new queens until current queens from the old colony have died.P. tabidus has been observed to display both predator and scavenger behavior, depending on the food sources available.
Polybioides tabidus is a member of the subfamily Polistinae, which exclusively contains social wasps. Four tribes make up Polistinae: Polistini, Epiponini, Mischocyttarini, and Ropalidiini. Out of the three swarm-founding groups of wasps, two are found in the tribe Ropalidiini—the genus Polybioides and some wasps of the genus Ropalidia—and the third swarm-founding group includes the tribe Epiponini. The genus Polybioides is most closely related to Belonogaster based on a phylogenetic tree.
P. tabidus was originally described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1781 as (Vespa tabida) and has two other taxonomic synonyms (subsequently named species later found to be identical to P. tabidus): Polybia bucula named in 1902 by Du Buysson and Polybia isabellina named by Schulthess in 1913.
There is a distinct difference in morphological characteristics between queens and workers. Queens have long bristles on their heads—specifically their eyes, vertex, and antennae—and on their thorax. The workers' bristles on their heads and thoraces are much shorter than the queen's. Leg and wing bristles of workers and queens are comparable in length. Queens typically have longer wings and larger metasomal segments. It is suggested that reproductive ability may be possible in both castes, as some workers have been observed to possess developed ovaries.
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