NEST ARCHITECTURE AND BROOD DEVELOPMENT 
TIMES IN THE PAPER WASP, POLISTES EXCLAMANS 
(HYMENOPTERA: VESPIDAE) * 
By J. E. Strassmann and M. C. Ferreira Orgren 
Biology Department, 
Rice University, 
Houston TX 77251 
One of the distinctive features of social insects is that they rear 
their brood in nests. In the Vespidae these nests are typically con- 
structed of paper; they have one or several layers of cells, and may 
have an outer envelope of paper (Jeanne 1975). Nest architecture 
has been interpreted as a means of minimizing vulnerability to nest 
predators, particularly ants (Jeanne, 1975; 1979). Another factor 
that may contribute to nest design is a limitation on efficient food 
distribution to larvae when there are many cells in a single layer. For 
example if foragers tend to land on one part of the nest and then 
begin feeding the nearest larvae, unequal food distribution would 
result. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of cell 
location on brood development times of Polistes exclamans Vie- 
reck. Also examined were the roles of time of year, numbers of 
workers, and larvae per worker as factors influencing development 
times. P. exclamans was chosen as a study organism because all cells 
are in one layer, without an envelope; nests are approximately 
circular, and have a single off-center pedicel usually located 
towards the top of the nest. Cells near the pedicel are the 
oldest. These features make nests of P. exclamans among the 
more simple types of nests. In central Texas nests of P. exclamans 
vary greatly in size, reaching an upper limit of about 500 cells 
(Strassmann, personal observation). 
Methods 
Three nests representing small, average and large nests were 
chosen for observation at Brackenridge Field Laboratory of the 
University of Texas at Austin, Texas. These nests appeared to be 
* Manuscript received by the editor May 15, 1983. 
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