Ropalidia romandi

Yellow Paper Wasp
Burdekin River, Queensland
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Vespidae
Subfamily: Polistinae
Tribe: Ropalidiini
Genus: Ropalidia
Species:
R. romandi
Binomial name
Ropalidia romandi
(Le Guillou, 1841)

Ropalidia romandi, also known as the yellow brown paper wasp[1] or the yellow paper wasp.[2] is a species of paper wasp found in Northern and Eastern Australia. R. romandi is a swarm-founding wasp, and manages perennial nests.[3] Its nests are known as 'paper bag nests'[4] and have different architectural structures, depending on the substrates from which they are built.[5] The specific name honors Gustave, baron de Romand, a prominent French political figure and amateur entomologist.

Because swarm-founding colonies can contain more than one egg-laying queen, they tend to challenge current kin selection theory. in that they do not meet William D. Hamilton’s rule of haplodiploid eusocial Hymenoptera, in which all the sisters from a single mating of one queen with a parthenogenetically-produced male will share 75% of their genes.[6] This wasp often has multiple strepsipteran endoparasites,[7] and it delivers a very painful sting when threatened.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b "Brisbane Insects". Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Insects of Townsville". Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  3. ^ Kojima, J. (1996). "Colony cycle of an Australian swarm-founding paper wasp, Ropalidia romandi (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)". Insectes Sociaux. 43 (4): 411–420. doi:10.1007/BF01258413. S2CID 35241710.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Tsuchida, K.; et, al. (2000). "Genetical and morphological colony structure of the Australian swarm-founding polistine wasp, Ropalidia romandi (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)". Insectes Sociaux. 47 (2): 113–116. doi:10.1007/PL00001688. S2CID 44016571.
  7. ^ Wild, Clyde H.; Hall, Casey R. (2010). "Multiple stylopisation of a paper wasp, Ropalidia romandi (Le Guillou) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)". Australian Entomologist. 37 (3).