Increasing caste differences related to life cycle progression in some neotropical swarm-founding polygynic polistine wasps (Hymenoptera Vespidae Epiponini)

Morphological analyses of female wasps collected at different points in the development of the colonial life cycle showed that in Polybia occidentalis , P. paulista and P. scutellaris, caste differences progressively increase because larger queens appeared in more abundance in later stages of the col ony cycle. Possibly, the mechanism can be of selective importance in the on set of the cyclical oligogyny, which is presently well documented in the li fe cycle of many swarm-founding polistine wasps. Males and uninseminated fe males with developed ovaries (intermediates) only occurred at the later sta ges of a colony's developmental cycle.