PROCESS OF COMB DIVISION OF REUSED NESTS IN THE AUSTRALIAN PAPER WASPROPALIDIA-PLEBEIANA (HYMENOPTERA, VESPIDAE)

In Ropalidia plebeiana, combs made in the previous year are often reus ed by foundresses in the following spring and structurally divided int o subnests by them. Close observations of the comb dividing process re vealed that: 1) combs that had multiple ''brood areas'' (areas where c ells had eggs) were frequently divided into subnests, while those with single brood areas were never divided; 2) groups of foundresses each occupied a particular brood area even before comb division started; an d 3) frequency with which a foundress practiced comb cutting was indep endent of her social status or oviposition frequency. These observatio ns suggest that the initial grouping of foundresses that colonize an o ld nest leads to subsequent comb division, rather than the major egg l ayers cutting combs to safeguard their oviposition territories from th eir rivals.