Comparison of the External Morphology of the Sternal Glands for Hornets in the Genus Vespa

Abstract

Many social wasps in the speciose subfamilies Polistinae and Vespinae have two sternal glands—the van der Vecht gland and the Richards gland—that are not found in other insects. The presence of these glands has been confirmed in only 6 of 22 hornet species (genus Vespa) and images of their fine structure have not been produced. Here; we characterize the external morphology associated with both glands for workers of nine Vespa species using scanning electron microscopy. All hornets had similar gland configurations; although gland-associated external features differed among species. Scaled for size, glands were equivalently sized for the giant hornets (V. mandarinia and V. soror) and their closest phylogenetic relatives (V. tropica and V. ducalis). Relative size of gland-associated structures was reduced by half for V. simillima; V. velutina; and V. affinis workers. The remaining species (V. crabro and V. analis) had intermediately sized features. Differences among species in external gland structure were best explained by selective pressures related to predatory behavior, rather than defense of nests against ants. However, a lack of information about how Vespa workers use their van der Vecht and Richards glands limits a comparative interpretation of the function of their external gland morphology.