Data from: Colony stage and not facultative policing explains pattern of worker reproduction in the Saxon wasp

Inclusive fitness theory predicts that in colonies of social Hymenoptera
headed by a multiple mated queen, workers should benefit from policing
eggs laid by other workers. Foster & Ratnieks (2000) provided
evidence that in the vespine wasp Dolichovespula saxonica, workers police
other workers' eggs only in colonies headed by a multiple mated
queen, but not in those headed by a single mated one. This conclusion,
however, was based on a relatively small sample size and the original
study did not control for possible confounding variables such as the
seasonal colony progression of the nests. Our aim, therefore, was to
reinvestigate whether or not facultative worker policing occurs in D.
saxonica. Remarkably, our data shows that in the studied Danish
population, there was no correlation between worker-worker relatedness and
the percentage of worker-derived males. In addition, we show that
variability in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles among the workers did not
significantly correlate with relatedness, and that workers therefore
probably did not have sufficient information on queen mating frequency
from the workers’ cuticular hydrocarbon profiles. Hence, there was no
evidence that workers facultatively policed other workers' eggs in
response to queen mating frequency. Nevertheless, our data do show that
the seasonal progression of the nest and the location in which the males
were reared both explain the patterns of worker reproduction found.
Overall, our results suggest that the earlier evidence for facultative
worker policing in D. saxonica may have been due to accidental
correlations with certain confounding variables, or, alternatively, that
there are large interpopulation differences in the expression of worker
policing.