BEHAVIORAL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE SOCIAL PARASITE SULCOPOLISTES ATRIMANDIBULARIS AND ITS HOST POLISTES BIGLUMIS (HYMENOPTERA, VESPIDAE)

The parasitic wasp species S atrimandibularis (Zimmermann 1930) invade s nests of P biglumis (Linnaeus 1758) by means of a defensive strategy . Successful parasites succeed in taking prey or parts of it from the host FF, chew it, and return it to the host. The Polistes F stops layi ng eggs 1 - 3 days later while the parasite starts to release eggs wit hin 3 - 5 days, after having returned chewed prey to the host queen. I t is assumed that S atrimandibularis releases a substance into the pre y that inhibits the reproductive capacity of P biglumis.