Saturday, July 29, 2017

One of These is Not Like the Others....

Sometimes, even with your book-learned knowledge, it takes you a moment to recognize something when you see it firsthand. Such was the case when my wife and I encountered a softball-sized nest of the Aerial Yellowjacket, Dolichovespula arenaria, under the eave of a small building in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, on July 10. Worker wasps were coming and going as they should, but another wasp was periodically emerging, too, and it was not like the others.

The other wasp was larger than the workers, and instead of being black and yellow, it was black and white. It eventually dawned on me that I was witnessing a social parasite in action. The black and white wasp was a female Dolichovespula arctica (aka Dolichovespula adulterina). Her species has no worker caste like the Aerial Yellowjacket, only reproductive females, and males.

The Aerial Yellowjacket is the primary host species for this social parasite. The D. arctica female infiltrates an existing colony of the host, when it is underway but before worker wasps have emerged from the pupa stage. The parasite does not usually kill the host queen immediately, but waits until she has produced a fair number of workers. She may also evict the queen, or follow her around and eat the eggs she lays in the cells of the paper comb. By the time workers of the host species have matured, they serve as a workforce to raise the offspring of the social parasite. It is a subtle form of slavery of which the host species seems unaware.

Why the female D. arctica repeatedly emerged from the interior of the nest to wander around on the exterior paper envelope is a mystery to me. Perhaps the workers tolerate her only for short periods, and her foreign scent would overwhelm the normal colony odor if she lingered longer inside?

The parasite is probably fairly common, but seldom seen. The species ranges from Alaska and throughout Canada save for the Nunavut Province, south to the northern U.S. and along major mountain ranges to Kentucky, Georgia, Arizona, and California. It appears to be limited to high elevation coniferous forest habitats here in Colorado; and that is probably the case over much of the United States.

Lest you feel saddened about the fate of the host colony, remember that worker yellowjackets are still capable of laying unfertilized eggs that ultimately give rise to males of the species. So, the host colony can still reproduce, but is limited to liberating only males during the late summer reproductive season.

Take a moment when you encounter insect activity, what it reveals over even a short period of time may surprise you. Even nests of social wasps can be approached quite closely, as long as you do not jar the nest or otherwise create hostile vibrations. I had to get very close with my camera because my flash was not working. Not once was I even harassed by a worker wasp.

Sources: Akre, Roger D. et al. 1980. Yellowjackets of America North of Mexico. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook No. 552, 102 pp.
Buck, M., Marshall, S.A. and Cheung D.K.B. 2008. Identification Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the northeastern Nearctic region. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification No. 5: 492 pp. (PDF version). Published on 19 February 2008.
Evans, Howard E. and Mary Jane West Eberhard. 1970. The Wasps. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 265 pp.

12 comments:

  1. Very nice observation - and now, with your images, I have a little more than just my book learning to go by, thanks! But the last aerial yellowjacket nest that I've seen was in Germany last June, and it was left over from the year before. No activity. Here in AZ, I have not seen anything but subterranean yellow jackets at high elevations

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  2. Your timing on this blog post was perfect for me. A year ago I sent a photo to BG which they just identified as Dolichovespula arctica (which is what I was hoping it was). Wonderful for me to have your blog post about their family life. ... BG # 1260908. Mine was taken at about 2500 feet elevation on the Umpqua National Forest -- first Oregon Bug Guide record.

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    1. Thank *you* for observing and contributing, Elva!

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  3. It's obvious at a glance that this was photographed in the western part of the US because D. arctica in the eastern US and eastern Canada has much thinner terminal bands on abdominal segments T-1 and T-2, and the shade of white is somewhat lighter. Specimens I've netted in SE Wyoming look like the one in the photo.

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  4. What an interesting read! You just helped me identify this fascinating creature when I sent a couple of photos to Daniel at WhatsThatBug and he sent them on to you. I'm so excited to have found one and will now be on the lookout to see if I can observe some of this behavior you describe. Thanks.

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  5. I had no idea that this was going on in the world of yellowjackets. I am an urban pest entomologist (berate me if you will), and I've had a few people tell me that they have seen bald-faced hornets and yellowjackets sharing a colony. I called shenanigans on the sharing of nest space, but now I believe they were just witnessing parasitic and aerial yellowjackets. Thanks for this bit of information. I love yellowjackets.

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    1. Never going to berate anybody here, let alone someone who expresses an appreciation for what I do. Thank you so much for the compliment!

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  6. In North Carolina recently, I observed what I think are Dolichovespula arctica nectaring on the plant, Angelica triquinata. On one compound umbrel, I photographed 10 of the wasps. Are these likely to be all males? Why do they nectar together? Or are these a different species than D. arctica?. I am an ammeter naturalist just learning about this group of insects and am curious about what appears to be social behavior of this parasitic wasp. Thanks!

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    1. These are pretty high elevation wasps. I would recommend posting your images to iNaturalist or one of the Facebook interest groups devoted to social wasps or Hymenoptera in general.

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  7. Great read, sir. This is exactly the behavior we're seeing on our front porch.

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