Stripes display in hover-wasps (Vespidae: Stenogastrinae): a socially costly status badge

During their daily patrols of their hover sites, male stenogastrine wasps display three white stripes on their tergites by fully stretching their abdomen. In captive Parischnogaster mellyi males, we observed a positive relationship between mating and both display frequency and successful aerial duels. Approaches of receptive females to hovering males and sexual interactions were most frequent at the end of the males' performance, when only a few individuals displayed their stripes in flight. We investigated the function and cost of the stripes display by manipulating this sex-dimorphic trait. Wasps with additional white stripes (simulating continuously displaying individuals) were pursued and touched more frequently by rivals, stopped their activity earlier than controls and foraged more intensely. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.