PHYSIOLOGICAL ECOLOGY OF NEST CONSTRUCTION AND PROTEIN FLOW IN PREEMERGENCE COLONIES OF POLISTES-CHINENSIS (HYMENOPTERA VESPIDAE) - EFFECTSOF RAINFALL AND MICROCLIMATES

The amount of oral secretion, which mostly consists of proteinaceous m aterials, used for the construction and maintenance of nests by foundr esses of Polistes chinensis was analysed in 95 field nests (1994-1996) . The amounts always exceeded 50% of mean percent secretion to total t he dry nest weights, and it was greater in nests built at sites expose d to direct rainfall than in those at sheltered sites. Further, expose d nests built in 1995 (a rainy year) were much smaller than those of 1 994 and 1996, and the amount of secretion in that year was much greate r than in the other years. The nitrogen content of adult workers, imma tures, those left inside cells and the oral secretion in nests of 1996 showed that 10-20% of total protein resources brought in during the f ounding phase may be devoted to producing the secretion. The results s uggest that the foundresses may regulate the amounts of oral secretion used for such purposes in response to environmental conditions.