BEHAVIORAL ROLE-DIFFERENTIATION IN THE PRIMITIVELY EUSOCIAL WASP BELONOGASTER JUNCEA JUNCEA (HYMENOPTERA, VESPIDAE)

With a view toward describing behavioral variability among individuals of the primitively eusocial species Belonogaster juncea juncea, we re corded the time-activity budget spent on five behavioral categories (f oraging, building, feeding, inactivity, and reproduction) by 52 indivi duals belonging to four postemergence colonies. A principal-components analysis coupled with a hierarchical cluster analysis enabled us to d iscern four behavioral roles. The reproductive role is reserved to one individual (functional monogyny) and the workers' role is differentia ted into foragers, builders, and guards. The foragers are females that spend the most rime (82.6% of their time) foraging, supplying the nes t with prey load and liquid matter. The builders are individuals (with 41.5% of their time off the nest) that tend to bring pulp into the ne st and then undertake building activities. The guards are those female s that spend the most time (79.7% of their time) being inactive on the nest.