UM: Wasps

Scientific American reports on a study published in Current Biology on paper wasps’ social behaviors. UM biologist and lead author of the study Elizabeth Tibbetts found that wasps punish other wasps whose facial markings are incongruous to their fighting behavior. The opposing wasp bullied the deceiver, regardless of whether the deceiver was deceptively aggressive or deceptively weak. “Punishment,” Tibbetts explains, “not only hurts the cheater but provides a benefit to the punisher. Over the course of the interaction, the punisher realizes that maybe their opponent’s signal is not accurate. If they trusted the signal, they would have lost out.” [Source]