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Ropalidia romandi
Ropalidia romandi, also known as the yellow brown paper wasp or the yellow paper wasp. is a species of paper wasp found in Northern and Eastern Australia. R. romandi is a swarm-founding wasp, and manages perennial nests. Its nests are known as 'paper bag nests' and have different architectural structures, depending on the substrates from which they are built. The specific name honors Gustave, baron de Romand, a prominent French political figure and amateur entomologist.
Because swarm-founding colonies can contain more than one egg-laying queen, they tend to challenge current kin selection theory. in that they do not meet William D. Hamilton’s rule of haplodiploid eusocial Hymenoptera, in which all the sisters from a single mating of one queen with a parthenogenetically-produced male will share 75% of their genes. This wasp often has multiple strepsipteran endoparasites, and it delivers a very painful sting when threatened.
Ropalidia romandi, first named by Élie Jean François Le Guillou in 1841, is in the subfamily Polistinae. It contains two subspecies, R. romandi romandi (Le Guillou 1841) and R. romandi cabeti (de Saussure 1853). Ropalidia is the only genus in Polistinae that contains both independent-founding species, founded by only one or a few fertilized females, and swarm-founding species. Swarm-founding species within Ropalidia must thus have evolved independently from swarm-founding species found in other polistine genera. This genus is distributed across Oceania and the Old World, and contains approximately 180 species. It and the other three Old World polistine genera form a monophyletic group.
Ropalidia romandi is unique for its overall yellow color, with dark brown markings on its thorax and abdomen. Measuring around 12mm, R. romandi is considered small. The first segment of the abdomen in Ropalidia is narrower than the following segments. R. romandi's front wings fold lengthwise when resting, which is a common characteristic of paper wasps.
Its nest is referred to as ‘paper bag nest’ because it consists of a papery envelope covering several horizontal combs. Both the envelope and its contents are made of papery plant fibers glued together with saliva. The nest is either spherical or hemispherical in shape, can be up to one meter long, and is usually found in trees or eaves of buildings.
In Australia R. romandi is found in Northern Territory and Queensland. It is one of the most common paper wasp species in Eastern Queensland. R. romandi lives in both tropical and temperate climates. However, their habitats are prone to cold winters, which results in seasonal colony activity. Nests can be found hanging from the underside of various tree branches and building eaves at anywhere from 2.5m to 30m above the ground. They commonly attach their nests to Eucalypts, which shed their bark frequently. When this occurs, the nests fall to the ground and are abandoned by the colony. Shortly after, a new nest is constructed.
R. romandi is a swarm-founding species, which means its colonies are founded by a swarm of workers associating with queens (fertilized females). This is in contrast to what happens in independent-founding species, where the colony is founded by only one or a few fertilized females. R. romandi has been found to manage perennial nests that can last a few years. This means that the colony does not die off in the winter as they do in annual colonies, but they instead survive the winter and manage the same nest the following season. Because of this, swarm-founding species normally have larger colonies with more queens than independent-founding species. Colony survival over the winter is thought to be possible because R. romandi practices seasonal colony activity. This means that in summer, the wasps are more active, performing active reproduction, while in the winter the number of reproductives dies off, and no reproductive activity is observed.
There is also a difference in colony foraging behavior between the winter and summer seasons. Workers can be seen foraging for flower nectar (which is rich in carbohydrates) much more frequently in the winter than in the summer, suggesting that the wasps use these carbohydrates as energy stores to survive the winter. These energy stores make it possible for the wasps to not take any active flights for up to a week, which is beneficial because they avoid the cool temperatures and often rainy weather.
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Ropalidia romandi
Ropalidia romandi, also known as the yellow brown paper wasp or the yellow paper wasp. is a species of paper wasp found in Northern and Eastern Australia. R. romandi is a swarm-founding wasp, and manages perennial nests. Its nests are known as 'paper bag nests' and have different architectural structures, depending on the substrates from which they are built. The specific name honors Gustave, baron de Romand, a prominent French political figure and amateur entomologist.
Because swarm-founding colonies can contain more than one egg-laying queen, they tend to challenge current kin selection theory. in that they do not meet William D. Hamilton’s rule of haplodiploid eusocial Hymenoptera, in which all the sisters from a single mating of one queen with a parthenogenetically-produced male will share 75% of their genes. This wasp often has multiple strepsipteran endoparasites, and it delivers a very painful sting when threatened.
Ropalidia romandi, first named by Élie Jean François Le Guillou in 1841, is in the subfamily Polistinae. It contains two subspecies, R. romandi romandi (Le Guillou 1841) and R. romandi cabeti (de Saussure 1853). Ropalidia is the only genus in Polistinae that contains both independent-founding species, founded by only one or a few fertilized females, and swarm-founding species. Swarm-founding species within Ropalidia must thus have evolved independently from swarm-founding species found in other polistine genera. This genus is distributed across Oceania and the Old World, and contains approximately 180 species. It and the other three Old World polistine genera form a monophyletic group.
Ropalidia romandi is unique for its overall yellow color, with dark brown markings on its thorax and abdomen. Measuring around 12mm, R. romandi is considered small. The first segment of the abdomen in Ropalidia is narrower than the following segments. R. romandi's front wings fold lengthwise when resting, which is a common characteristic of paper wasps.
Its nest is referred to as ‘paper bag nest’ because it consists of a papery envelope covering several horizontal combs. Both the envelope and its contents are made of papery plant fibers glued together with saliva. The nest is either spherical or hemispherical in shape, can be up to one meter long, and is usually found in trees or eaves of buildings.
In Australia R. romandi is found in Northern Territory and Queensland. It is one of the most common paper wasp species in Eastern Queensland. R. romandi lives in both tropical and temperate climates. However, their habitats are prone to cold winters, which results in seasonal colony activity. Nests can be found hanging from the underside of various tree branches and building eaves at anywhere from 2.5m to 30m above the ground. They commonly attach their nests to Eucalypts, which shed their bark frequently. When this occurs, the nests fall to the ground and are abandoned by the colony. Shortly after, a new nest is constructed.
R. romandi is a swarm-founding species, which means its colonies are founded by a swarm of workers associating with queens (fertilized females). This is in contrast to what happens in independent-founding species, where the colony is founded by only one or a few fertilized females. R. romandi has been found to manage perennial nests that can last a few years. This means that the colony does not die off in the winter as they do in annual colonies, but they instead survive the winter and manage the same nest the following season. Because of this, swarm-founding species normally have larger colonies with more queens than independent-founding species. Colony survival over the winter is thought to be possible because R. romandi practices seasonal colony activity. This means that in summer, the wasps are more active, performing active reproduction, while in the winter the number of reproductives dies off, and no reproductive activity is observed.
There is also a difference in colony foraging behavior between the winter and summer seasons. Workers can be seen foraging for flower nectar (which is rich in carbohydrates) much more frequently in the winter than in the summer, suggesting that the wasps use these carbohydrates as energy stores to survive the winter. These energy stores make it possible for the wasps to not take any active flights for up to a week, which is beneficial because they avoid the cool temperatures and often rainy weather.