page_title: Polistes annularis
section_title: Dominance hierarchy
hierarchical_section_title: Polistes annularis / Behavior / Dominance hierarchy
caption_attribution_description: English: (Cropped version) This is a mature red wasp (Polistes annularis) nest.
context_page_description: Polistes annularis is a species of paper wasp found throughout the eastern half of the United States. This species of red paper wasp is known for its large size and its red-and-black coloration and is variably referred to as a ringed paper wasp or jack Spaniard wasp. It builds its nest under overhangs near bodies of water that minimize the amount of sunlight penetration. It clusters its nests together in large aggregations, and consumes nectar and other insects. Its principal predator is the ant, although birds are also known to prey on it. Unlike other wasps, P. annularis is relatively robust in winter conditions, and has also been observed to store honey in advance of hibernation. This species has also been used as a model species to demonstratr the ability to use microsatellite markers in maternity assignment of social insects.
context_section_description: P. annularis is a primitively eusocial wasp, meaning that all individuals have the capacity for reproduction, regardless of social caste. Similar primitive eusociality has been seen in bees as well, including sweat bees such as Lasioglossum zephyrus. As such, P. annularis demonstrates behavior typical of other polistine wasps, and has a dominance hierarchy, relatively small colony size compared to yellowjacket species, and a female-biased sex ratio. This dominance hierarchy is due to group competition over scarce resources. 
  Dominant females chew on or attach other colony members to demonstrate power, and this higher caste has a propensity for "tail-wagging" and checking cells as compared to the lower ranked workers, similar to behavior in Polistes dominula. A female on the nest will engage the arrival of a wasp from another colony with her antennae, and the clash may last for several minutes and even escalate into grappling. Many of these behaviors are the result of high reproductive competition between females. 
  The reproductive females, or queens, usually lay the highest percentage of eggs though may occasionally allow subordinates to do so as well. The queens are more active on larger and newer nests. Despite the hierarchy and its dependence on queen size, larger queens do not necessarily inhibit egg laying by subordinates better than smaller queens. However, queens do develop far larger and more developed ovaries than their subordinates, and often have more mature eggs within.
  Much of this dominance hierarchy in P. annularis is dependent on dry weight, residue weight, wing length, and fat content. Thus, females from different nests exhibit greater variation in these factors, while females originating from the same natal nest exhibit greater similarity. In atypical cases, the queen may be smaller in terms of these factors than some of the workers on the nest. Generally, wasps that are heavier and have higher fat content have greater ovarian development, with dry weight correlating more heavily with ovarian development than any other parameter.. These trends in ovarian development has also been correlated with dominance hierarchy in members of other subgenera, including Polistes gallicus of the subgenus Polistes (Polistes) and Polistes metricus of the subgenus Polistes (Fuscopolistes).
caption: Polistes annularis at a mature nest
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