Wasp populations at Monteverde, Costa Rica potential shift in light and dark morphs

Tucker, Danielle
Gardner, Alycia
Newland, Sam
Owens, Kate
Thakur, Sneha

2011

2010-2019

The wasp species Mischocyttarusmastigophorus possesses both light and dark morphs. It has been hypothesized that these two morphs are adaptations either to help the animal thermoregulation body temperature across elevation or as a mimicry if the more aggressive wasps genus Agelaia for defense against predators. The coloration distribution was tested across elevations to test the hypothesis of the thermoregulation mechanism. Our results show that there was no difference between coloration across elevation, but that there was a greater abundance of dark morph colonies across all elevations. No relationship was found between mimicked organism coloration and coloration of the M. mastigophorous, so it is unlikely that the coloration deviation of M. mastigophorousis due to a mimicry mechanism. The large number if dark morph colonies suggests that thermoregulation may be the cause of the dimorphism. This could be because of decreasing daytime temperatures in the Monteverde region, thus giving the dark morph M. mastigophorous an advantage in absorbing solar heat energy.

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conference proceedings

Enhancing Global Research and Education in STEM at Spelman College (G-STEM)

Biology

Ayalew, Mentewab

Spelman College

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/sc.gstem:2011_tucker_danielle

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