WINTER PREY COLLECTION AT A PERENNIAL COLONY 
OF PARAVESPULA VULGARIS (L.) 
(HYMENOPTERA: VESPIDAE) 
By Parker Gambino 
Department of Entomological Sciences 
University of California 
Berkeley, California, U.S.A. 94720 
Introduction 
Diet is a fundamental aspect of an organism’s biology. In euso- 
cial vespid wasps the food intake of a mature colony, including 
nutrition of immatures, is determined by the foraging behavior of 
workers. Yellowjackets of the genus Paravespula Bliithgen meet 
the protein requirements of the colony by capturing live arthropods 
and collecting flesh from dead animals. By enabling these species to 
utilize a broader resource base, scavenging likely contributed to the 
evolution in this genus of a colony cycle characterized by higher 
worker populations and greater longevity than in Vespula Thomp- 
son, a closely related genus in which only live prey is taken (Mac- 
Donald et al., 1976). 
Prey collection by freely foraging Paravespula colonies has been 
described in detail by Kleinhout (1958), Kemper and Dohring 
(1962), Broekhuizen and Hordijk (1968), and Archer (1977). 
Numerous shorter lists of prey are available, (cf. Spradbery (1973) 
for a literature review). Broekhuizen and Hordijk (1968) investi- 
gated the response of P. vulgaris (L.) to artificial manipulations of 
prey densities in trees, while MacDonald et al. (1974) offered var- 
ious prey items in screen-enclosed foraging areas. Heinrich (1984) 
gave a good account of general foraging behavior of individual 
workers and Free (1970) investigated handling of honeybee prey by 
workers. 
Paravespula species undergo an annual monogynous cycle over 
most of their range, but in mild-weathered areas, perennial polygy- 
nous colonies sometimes develop (Spradbery, 1973). These colonies, 
characterized by enormous populations of workers, occur especially 
* Revised manuscript received by the editor July 7, 1986. 
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