Entomological Review (2009) 89, 529-541

L.A. Firman and L.Yu. Rusina (2009)
Mating system in a population of the wasp Polistes dominulus (Christ) (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)
Entomological Review 89 (5), 529-541
Abstract: The specific features of mating females and males of different morphs collected from a population of the wasp P. dominulus in Southern Ukraine were studied. Data analysis of mating individuals in experiments indicated a random mate choice by size and assortative mating by coloration. The most actively copulating males in the experiments had light-colored mesopleuron, sternite, and fore and middle coxae. They were similar in the color pattern and size to resident males, which defend their territories in the habitat. Most P. dominulus females mated only once. In their coloration, those females represented the majority of the individuals in the population. The color variability of the foundresses was shown to change in a cyclic pattern. The possibility that such variability may result from selective or assortative mating is discussed. The color and pattern traits of P. dominulus females and males could serve as markers of their reproductive strategies and their reproductive success on the whole.
Original Russian Text © L.A. Firman, L.Yu. Rusina, 2009, published in Entomologicheskoe Obozrenie, 2009, Vol. 88, No. 2, pp. 292-306.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
Polistes dominula (predator)			Ukraine