Christopher K. Starr and Mario Bissessarsingh. Dep't of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago
Physical features of the stinger are compared in 51 species of vespid wasps: four eumenines, two stenogastrines, 16 independent-founding polistines, 13 swarm-founding New World polistines, and 16 vespines.
Gross structure of the stinger is remarkably uniform within the family. Although the wasps show a broad range in body size and social habits, the central part of the venom-delivery apparatus -- the sting shaft -- varies little in length relative to overall body size, and what variation there is shows no correlation with social habits. This is consistent with the hypothesis that stinger size is constrained by the demands of flight.
The sting lancets bear distinct, acute barbs in all examined species except the two stenogastrines. Barbs vary considerably among species in number, their summed lengths (absolute serration), and the summed lengths relative to lancet width (relative serration). As expected, each of these measures correlates positively with the probability of sting autotomy resulting from a normal sting in human skin. The number of barbs and relative serration are good predictors of a tendency to sting autotomy.
As noted by Manzolini-Palma & Gobbi (1997. J. Hymen. Res. 6:152-162), sting autotomy is concentrated in the swarm-founding New World polistines. However, Macalintal & Starr (1996. Mem. Washington Ent. Soc. 17:108-115) found no correlation between sting autotomy and swarm-founding within Ropalidia. There is evidently no simple relationship between physical features of the stinger and differences in social organization in vespids.
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