MORPHOLOGICAL CASTE DIFFERENCES IN NEOTROPICAL SWARM-FOUNDING POLISTINAE WASPS .5. PROTOPOLYBIA EXIGUA EXIGUA (HYMENOPTERA, VESPIDAE)

A slight dimorphism between queens and, workers and intermediates was found in a colony of Protopolybia exigua exigua collected in Pedregulh o, southeastern Brazil. Mean sizes of all nine measured body parts of queens (n = 30) were statistically larger than those of workers and in termediates. Canonical discriminant analysis also showed some differen tiation among them, with Mahalanobis' intercaste distance (D-2)4.95 be tween queens and workers, 5.63 between queens and intermediates and 1. 84 between intermediates and workers.