1984] 
Hermann & Chao — Mischocyttarus 
55 
Figures 3 and 4. Plants found to be nesting sites for M. m. cubicola by us and by 
Litte (1977). 3, Sabal palmetto, showing draping nature of the leaves, making it an ideal 
site for nesting wasps. 4 , Serenoa repens, showing the nature of growth so that leaves 
do not drape, making them a poor site for nests. 
robin as potential vertebrate predators. She also pointed out that 
scrub jays and red headed woodpeckers are known predators of 
Polistes adults. Invertebrate predators of wasp immatures were 
Dorymyrme x flavopectus, Crematogaster ashmeadi, Pheidole flori- 
dana, Camponotus floridanus, and Monomorium floricola (Formi- 
cidae). Spiders were found to catch and feed on wasp adults. Starr 
(1981) reported blue jays and summer tanagers as possible polistine 
predators. Litte (1977) found that defense against vertebrate attack 
was ineffective, while defense against ants was effective in most 
cases. Polistine wasps are apparently free of most terrestrial 
predators while some vespines are heavily preyed upon by them 
(Preiss, 1967). 
Details of Nest Structure and Architectural Defense 
Of the ten nests that were collected between June 9 and June 12, 
1983 (Table I), six had 15 cells or more. The average number of cells 
was 13.90 (SD — 8.41). Although there is no information about 
colony growth rate at this time, it appears that most nest initiation 
occurred in May. Data collected from nests 1, 3, 5 and 7 (Table I) 
with less than 10 cells imply that either: 1) they were reinitiated after 
predation or 2) they were late initiators. Further study on these 
possibilities may give us a better understanding of the selection 
forces acting upon developing colonies. Most nests in June 
collections had a single female that dominated the face of the nest 
while other adult nest occupants spent much of their time on the 
