Summary:
Foragers of the two cavity-nesting vespines, Vespa crabro and Vespula vulgaris, lay and follow chemical trails in their nest cavities. In our experiments 75% of V. crabro and 72% of V. vulgaris foraging workers followed a trail arranged in a direction to which they were not accustomed. In experiments with trails taken in from conspecific alien colonies, 21% of V. crabro foragers and 65% of V. vulgaris foragers followed the trails. These behavioural responses indicate that the trail of V. crabro is colony-specific whereas that of V. vulgaris is not.
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Steinmetz, I., Sieben, S. & Schmolz, E. Chemical trails used for orientation in nest cavities by two vespine wasps, Vespa crabro and Vespula vulgaris . Insectes soc. 49, 354–356 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00022361
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00022361