Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 55(2): 247–252, junho, 2011

In polistine wasps, the periodicity of the foundation and abandonment of colonies differs between species of tropical and temperate climates (Gadagkar 1991; Reeve 1991). In temperate areas, the colony cycle is synchronized with the seasons, beginning in the middle of spring and finishing at the end of autumn or beginning of winter (West-Eberhard 1969). In these conditions there is a period of inactivity that extends from the abandonment of the colonies to the new foundations, during which the wasps hibernate (Yoshikawa 1963). This period is characterized by the formation of ag-gregations, which are initially constituted by males and later by potentially reproductive females, which after they aban-don the maternal nest, migrate to sheltered locations or old abandoned nests (Spradbery 1973). In general, the mating of the potentially reproductive females occurs in their own ag