Stripes display in hover-wasps (Vespidae : Stenogastrinae): a socially costly status badge

During their daily patrols of their hover sites, male stenogastrine wasps d isplay three white stripes on their tergites by fully stretching their abdo men. In captive Parischnogaster mellyi males, we observed a positive relati onship between mating and both display frequency and successful aerial duel s. Approaches of receptive females to hovering males and sexual interaction s were most frequent at the end of the males' performance, when only a few individuals displayed their stripes in flight. We investigated the function and cost of the stripes display by manipulating this sex-dimorphic trait. Wasps with additional white stripes (simulating continuously displaying ind ividuals) were pursued and touched more frequently by rivals, stopped their activity earlier than controls and foraged more intensely. (C) 1999 The As sociation for the Study of Animal Behaviour.