Social Wasps Have Simpler Brains (IMAGE)
Caption
As social behavior evolved, the brain regions for central cognitive processing in social insect species may have gotten smaller -- the exact opposite of the pattern that has been documented for several kinds of vertebrate animals including mammals, birds and fish. This finding comes from a new comparative study of social and solitary wasp species, including wasps in the genus Mischocyttarus closely related to these, Mischocyttarus mexicanum. "This small nest of wasps was built under a sheltered eve at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica," said the study's lead author, Sean O'Donnell, Ph.D., of Drexel University. "These are independent-founding wasps: relatively simple societies, never reaching large colony sizes. These wasps are thought to represent a fairly early stage in social evolution, possibly like species at the transition from solitary to social living."
Credit
Sean O'Donnell
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