page_title: Liostenogaster vechti
section_title: Signaling
hierarchical_section_title: Liostenogaster vechti / Behavior / Signaling
caption_attribution_description: English: From the right to the left, in the foreground of the photo, you can appreciate the difference in the size of the facial markings of three L. vechti females.
context_page_description: Liostenogaster vechti is a type of eusocial hover wasp within the family Vespidae. They are typically brown and yellow in color and are considered a passive aggressive species. Their stings are less painful to humans than other social wasps, and they engage in associative nest foundation. They are mostly found on the Malaysian peninsula and are known for living in large clusters of small ring-shaped nests.
context_section_description: Nestmate recognition and the establishment of reproductive status and dominance are often maintained through facial markings and chemical signaling. The bodies of L. vechti are covered by a mixture of cuticular lipids and long hydrocarbons. Females with ovarian development have much more of a particular hydrocarbon on their cuticles than females with undeveloped ovaries. This hydrocarbon appears to be a type of fertility signal which fertilized females use to show their status.
  The size of the brown facial markings on the heads of females also serves as a visual cue for members of the colony and serves as a badge of higher ranking status and reproductive status. Females with larger brown facial markings also have larger ovaries. These visual cues help other wasps to not only determine if a wasp is of the same species, but also to determine what to do and how to distribute themselves around the nests. Visiting females that lack these brown visual marks are more likely to be accepted into foreign nests. Acts of aggressions are much more likely to be exhibited towards a female with these distinctive markings in order to maintain a control system within the nest.
caption: In the foreground of the photo, you can appreciate the difference in the size of the facial marking of three females.
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