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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 9, 2025

The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior

The HoneyComb Paradigm for Research on Collective Human Behavior

Published on: January 19, 2019

Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition.

James P Tumulty¹, Sara E Miller², Steven M Van Belleghem³

¹Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Current Biology : CB

|December 8, 2023

Summary

Individual recognition and cooperative nesting behavior have co-evolved in paper wasps (Polistes fuscatus). Recognition enhances social group stability, driving cognitive evolution in these insects.

Keywords:

cognitive evolution cooperation identity signals individual recognition paper wasp social brain hypothesis social cognition social evolution

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Behavioral ecology
Cognitive evolution

Background:

Cooperation models often assume individual recognition abilities.
Cooperative behavior may drive the evolution of recognition.
Empirical evidence linking recognition, cooperation, and selection is scarce.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the co-evolution of individual recognition and cooperative nesting in the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus.
To provide evidence for a selective link between recognition and cooperation.

Main Methods:

Clinal analysis of nesting rates and color pattern diversity.
Behavioral experiments on individual recognition.
Common garden experiments to assess social association stability.
Population genomics to identify selection on cognition-associated genes.

Main Results:

Latitudinal clines observed in cooperative nesting and color pattern diversity.
Polistes fuscatus from New York exhibit individual recognition; those from Louisiana do not.
Northern wasp groups showed more stable, individually biased associations.
Stronger recent positive selection on cognition loci in northern populations.

Conclusions:

Individual recognition and cooperative nesting have co-evolved in Polistes fuscatus.
Recognition promotes social group stability, facilitating cooperation.
Social interactions act as a key driver of cognitive evolution.