Metapolybia cingulata

Description

Metapolybia cingulata (Fabricius, 1804) is a species of social paper wasp known for having queens who exhibit usurpation behaviors and also for having flexible behavior groups. It is difficult to tell what a specific wasp's role is just upon observation. Therefore, dissections are usually performed in order to determine the sex, and thus the wasp's role in the colony. The regulating behavior, or nest building, most closely resembles that of primitive Polistes models where a queen solicits liquid from a fellow worker and then takes pulp to initiate building a cell without leaving the nest. In nest building, the amount of water present in the nest as well as the activity of the builders of the nests determines the activity of the colony.