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Honey is a healing compound produced by the Apidae bees. So far, the only genus of Apis with 9 known species worldwide is a honey bee. But species of paper wasps in the Vespidae can also produce honey. This research was conducted to study and identify the species of paper wasp honey producer in the South of Kerman. For this purpose, the activity areas of this wasp were identified, and specimens of this paper wasp were collected for species identification. The specimens were identified by keys and related articles and Confirmed by Dr. James M. Carpenter at the American Museum of natural history. Parapolybia escalerae (Meado-Waldo) was described by Mead-Waldo in the London British Museum in 1911 as a single female specimen from southwestern Iran. The World distribution of this paper wasp is in Pakistan, Turkey, and Iran. According to the results of this study, the species Parapolybia escalerae (Meado-Waldo, 1911) was identified for the first time in southeastern Iran (south of Kerman). This species was distributed south of Kerman from the tropical foothills of Jabalbarz Mountains (southern Jabalbarz to Mohammadabad) and Bahraseman. Parapolybia escalerae is introduced in the world as a paper wasp species of a honey producer. The paper wasp is known as dry or chocolate honey and has medicinal use. In this study, the male and queen specimens were collected and identified for the first time. This study found that this species of paper wasp, like the Apis florea, produces wild honey. A. florea has open nests and small colonies of a single comb, but P. escalerae is in the dark space of mountains and cliffs and produces many combs. The activity of this species was mostly observed on the Ziziphus sp. and Pistacia terebinthus trees. This paper wasp has a social life and includes three forms of queens, workers, and males. So far, only two species of Honey producing paper wasps have been reported in South America, including Brachygastra mellifica (Say, 1837), known as the Mexican Honey Wasp and Brachygastra lecheguana (Latreille, 1824), which are paper wasps belonging to the subfamily Polistinae. These two species have round nests and build their nests on tall trees and the ground in open spaces. Their honey has medicinal use in different regions of South America and is collected by local people. The paper wasp species P. escalerae works in the crevices of the rocks and has several flat combs. In Iran, the local people of the southern regions of Iran use this honey as medicine to treat respiratory diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the outcomes of ocular injuries of hornets and paper wasps’ stings.Study design: Retrospective case series.Methods: Patients diagnosed with ocular injuries sustained by bee stings at Miyata Eye Hospital (Miyazaki, Japan) between August 2000 and July 2016 were enrolled. Retrospective data regarding type of bee, visual acuity, and treatment were collected from medical records. Outcomes of the hornet and wasp groups were compared.Results: Five eyes of 5 patients (3 men, 2 women; mean age 44.6±21.2 years [range 9-62 years]) were enrolled. The mean follow-up period was 50.6 ± 57.6 months (range 4 days to 121 months). The causative bee was hornet in 3 cases and wasp in 2. The anterior chamber was irrigated in 2 patients, both from the hornet group. The best-corrected visual acuity at the final visit was no light perception, light perception, and (0.02) in the hornet group, (1.5) and (1.2) in the wasp group.Conclusions: The hornet group exhibited significantly worse prognosis than the wasp group. Identifying the type of bee is important in establishing prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The founding individuals of a new group or lineage are uniquely poised to have long-lasting effects on their descendants. Here we explore how the behavioural traits of new foundresses influence their task allocation strategies and the downstream collective behaviour of their colonies. We collected individual paper wasp ( Polistes metricus ) queens from the wild and measured their boldness, aggressiveness, exploration, activity and time budgets in the laboratory. We then provided queens with food and nest materials and waited for their workers to eclose. We subsequently tested for links between queen behavioural traits (e.g. boldness, aggressiveness) and the collective aggressiveness of their colonies, as estimated by the number of workers that responded to and stung a model predator. We found that bolder queens (i.e. queens that were less likely to leave their nests after repeated exposure to an agonistic stimulus) spent more time nest guarding, reared more workers and produced groups that were less responsive to a model predator. Thus, there appears to be parent–offspring, or queen–worker, resemblance in the degree to which individuals remain on their nests in different social contexts (solitary queen versus queen + her worker group). To our knowledge this represents the first study to explicitly test for links between individual variation in foundress behaviour, worker production and intercolony collective behaviour; the results highlight the possibility that cross-contextual and transgenerational behavioural links could be a reasonably common and potentially important phenomenon in complex societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additions to the knowledge of the paper wasp genus Polistes (Polistella) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae) from the northern part of Vietnam are presented. The males of two species, P. affinis Gusenleitner, 2006, and P. curcipunctum Nguyen, Kojima & Saito, 2011, are described for the first time. The nests of P. affinis Gusenleitner, 2006, and P. nipponensis Pérez, 1905, are also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wasps of the genus Polistes build combs without any cover and hence are insufficiently protected against temperature fluctuations. Due to this fact, different types of thermoregulation of Polistes dominula nests were investigated using the modern method of thermography. The study of active mechanisms for nest thermoregulation revealed no brood incubation or clustering behaviour of P. dominula . Furthermore, we found out that wing fanning for cooling the nest was almost undetectable (4 documented cases). However, we could convincingly record that water evaporation is most effective for nest cooling. By the direct comparison of active (with brood and adults) and non-active (without brood and adults) nests, the start of cooling by water evaporation was detected above maximum outside temperatures of 25 °C or at nest temperatures above 35 °C. The powerful role of water in nest cooling was manifested by an average decrease of temperature of single cells of about 8 °C and a mean duration of 7 min until the cells reached again their initial temperature. The investigation of passive thermoregulatory mechanisms revealed that the architecture of the nest plays an important role. Based on the presented results, it can be assumed that the vertical orientation of cells helps maintaining the warmth of nests during the night, whereas the pedicel assists in cooling the nest during the day. Therefore, our study of nest thermoregulation has revealed that P. dominula wasps regulate the temperature of their nest actively by evaporative cooling and passively by a careful site selection and the architecture of their nests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several eusocial wasps are prominent invaders to remote islands. The paper wasp Polistes chinensis antennalis is native to East Asia, was introduced to New Zealand in 1979 and has expanded its distribution there. This provides an excellent opportunity to examine the impacts of an initial bottleneck and subsequent expansion on genetic structure. We analysed and compared the genetic population structures of the native (Japan and South Korea) and invasive New Zealand populations. Although 94% of individuals had shared haplotypes detected across both populations, the remaining 6% had private haplotypes identified in only one of the three countries. The genetic variation at microsatellite loci was lower in New Zealand than in native countries, and the genetic structure in New Zealand was clearly distinct from that in its native range. Higher frequencies of diploid-male- and triploid-female-producing colonies were detected in New Zealand than in the native countries, showing the reduction in genetic variation via a genetic bottleneck. At least two independent introductions were suggested, and the putative source regions for New Zealand were assigned as Kanto (central island) and Kyushu (south island) in Japan. Serial founder events following the initial introduction were also indicated. The estimated dispersal distance between mother and daughter in New Zealand was twice that in Japan. Thus, the introduction history of P. chinensis antennalis in New Zealand is probably the result of at least two independent introductions, passing through a bottleneck during introduction, followed by population expansion from the point of introduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper wasps negotiate over help using indicators of demand. Animal societies are composed of individuals whose genetic interests are often opposed. We conducted experiments on a cooperative paper wasp which reveal the behavioural rules by which group members settle these conflicts.Recent theory and empirical studies of avian biparental systems suggest that animals resolve conflict over parental care via a process of behavioral negotiation or “rules for responding.” Less is known, however, about whether negotiation over helping effort occurs in cooperatively breeding animal societies or whether behavioral negotiation requires a relatively large brain. In this study, we tested whether negotiation over help occurs in a social insect, the paper wasp Polistes dominulus, by recording individual responses to both observed and experimentally induced foraging returns by other group members. In our experiments, we manipulated food delivery to the nest in 2 ways: 1) by catching departing foragers and giving them larval food to take back to the nest and 2) by giving larval food directly to wasps on the nest, which they then fed to larvae, so increasing food delivery independently of helper effort. We found no evidence from Experiment 1 that helpers adjusted their own foraging effort according to the foraging effort of other group members. However, when food was provided directly to the nest, wasps did respond by reducing their own foraging effort. One interpretation of this result is that paper wasp helpers adjust their helping effort according to the level of offspring need rather than the work rate of other helpers. Negotiation based on indicators of demand rather than work rate is a likely mechanism to resolve conflict over investment in teams where helpers cannot observe each other’s work rate directly, as is commonly the case in insect and vertebrate societies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The mosaic brain evolution hypothesis predicts that the relative volumes of functionally distinct brain regions will vary independently and correlate with species' ecology. Paper wasp species (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae) differ in light exposure: they construct open versus enclosed nests and one genus (Apoica) is nocturnal. We asked whether light environments were related to species differences in the size of antennal and optic processing brain tissues. Paper wasp brains have anatomically distinct peripheral and central regions that process antennal and optic sensory inputs. We measured the volumes of 4 sensory processing brain regions in paper wasp species from 13 Neotropical genera including open and enclosed nesters, and diurnal and nocturnal species. Species differed in sensory region volumes, but there was no evidence for trade-offs among sensory modalities. All sensory region volumes correlated with brain size. However, peripheral optic processing investment increased with brain size at a higher rate than peripheral antennal processing investment. Our data suggest that mosaic and concerted (size-constrained) brain evolution are not exclusive alternatives. When brain regions increase with brain size at different rates, these distinct allometries can allow for differential investment among sensory modalities. As predicted by mosaic evolution, species ecology was associated with some aspects of brain region investment. Nest architecture variation was not associated with brain investment differences, but the nocturnal genus Apoica had the largest antennal:optic volume ratio in its peripheral sensory lobes. Investment in central processing tissues was not related to nocturnality, a pattern also noted in mammals. The plasticity of neural connections in central regions may accommodate evolutionary shifts in input from the periphery with relatively minor changes in volume. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory on animal contests often assumes that individuals can rapidly and accurately assess their own resource-holding potential (RHP). In empirical work, individuals behave as if they ‘know’ their own RHP, but little is known about how such assessment occurs. Here, we test how juvenile hormone (JH) influences precontest behaviour in P. dominulus paper wasps. Previous work has shown that P. dominulus have variable black facial patterns that are a signal of agonistic ability and that JH influences fighting ability. In this experiment, we tested how JH influences rival challenge behaviour in the absence of direct social competition. Wasps were given the opportunity to challenge or avoid a model wasp guarding a patch of food. Individuals treated with the JH analogue methoprene were more likely to challenge rivals than were control individuals, and they also had a shorter latency to challenge than controls. However, hormone treatment was only one of multiple factors that influenced behaviour, suggesting that assessment prior to contests is based on the interplay between individual physiology and social context. Contest decisions were also dependent on a wasp's own facial pattern and mass, as well as the facial pattern of its rival. Interestingly, these complex assessment decisions occurred in the absence of direct social cues that could be acquired during a contest. These results are consistent with JH playing a role in self-assessment of RHP. Hormones such as JH are influenced by the physical and social environment, so they provide diverse information about relative RHP and may be commonly involved in assessment behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although sexually selected ornaments are common across diverse taxa, little is known about mate choice and sexually selected ornamentation in social insects. Polistes dominulus paper wasps are a good system to study sexual selection, as males have a lek-based mating system as well as sexually dimorphic abdominal spots. Here, we demonstrate that the abdominal spots of male P. dominulus paper wasps function as signals in both inter- and intrasexual selection. Males with smaller, elliptically shaped spots were more dominant over male rivals and were more preferred by females than males with larger, irregularly shaped spots. Furthermore, experimental manipulation of male spots demonstrates that spot morphology acts as a signal. Males with experimentally reduced abdominal spots won a greater proportion of fights and were preferred by females as mates over control males. These results demonstrate that male ornaments are an important mediator of mating dynamics in P. dominulus paper wasps. They also highlight the importance of additional research examining sexually selected ornamentation in social insects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduction: Aposematism is a defense system against predators consisting of the toxicity warning using conspicuous coloration. If the toxin production and aposematic coloration is costly, only individuals in good physical condition could simultaneously produce abundant poison and striking coloration. In such cases, the aposematic coloration not only indicates that the animal is toxic, but also the toxicity level of individuals. The costs associated with the production of aposematic coloration would ensure that individuals honestly indicate their toxicity levels. In the present study, we examine the hypothesis that a positive correlation exists between the brightness of warning coloration and toxicity level using as a model the paper wasp (Polistes dominula). Results: We collected wasps from 30 different nests and photographed them to measure the brightness of warning coloration in the abdomen. We also measured the volume of the poison gland, as well as the length, and the width of the abdomen. The results show a positive relationship between brightness and poison-gland size, which remained positive even after controlling for the body size and abdomen width. Conclusion: The results suggest that the coloration pattern of these wasps is a true sign of toxicity level: wasps with brighter colors are more poisonous (they have larger poison glands). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insect social parasites need to overcome host colonies’ defences to exploit their resources successfully. Sophisticated sensory deception mechanisms to break the host’s barriers have been repeatedly reported for many social parasites, possibly concealing the importance of open fighting, a more ancestral strategy. Understanding the relative importance of fooling and fighting is primarily challenging when the two strategies seem both available and advantageous. We focused on the paper wasp social parasite–host system Polistes sulcifer–P. dominulus, where both fooling and fighting have been suggested to play a role during usurpation contests. Host aggression is elicited by the chemical cues (hydrocarbons) that intruders bear on their cuticle. Parasites would benefit from reducing the amount of these cues before approaching the host colony. In addition, the parasites’ facial pattern has been shown to reduce the host’s aggressive reaction, probably by amplifying the mandibular width. We tested the occurrence of chemical and visual cheating through chemical analyses and laboratory usurpation trials, respectively. Usurping parasites did not conceal their identity by reducing cuticular hydrocarbons, nor did their facial pattern facilitate nest take-over. Contest outcome was instead predicted by the relative body size of the opponents. Fighting, rather than fooling, is therefore the strategy used by P. sulcifer usurping females. The importance of physical strength could thus explain why chemical or visual tricks do not play a role in taking over the host colony despite their potential usefulness. Our findings suggest that the evolution of sophisticated cheating mechanisms can be prevented by the ability to fight. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Obligate social parasite insects are specialized in exploiting the parental service of the workers of another social species by invading their colonies. As social insects are usually aggressive towards intruders, social parasites have to circumvent the host’s nestmate recognition system to enter the host colony successfully. Many studies on paper wasps have shown that, after host nest invasion, Polistes social parasites change their chemical profile to match the host’s odour, thus allowing their acceptance into its colony. However, a social parasite’s usurpation strategy may benefit from signals that reduce or eliminate the aggression of the host. We used lure presentation experiments to investigate whether Polistes sulcifer, a social parasite of the paper wasp P. dominulus, is able to reduce the aggressive reaction of its host. We found that the parasite lure elicited lower host aggressiveness than the conspecific lure, suggesting that parasite species have evolved cues able to inhibit host aggressiveness. We investigated separately the effects of chemical and visual patterns on host aggressiveness. The lower host reaction to the parasite lure was not due to chemical cues, but was elicited by the visual facial pattern of the parasite. Experimental manipulation of this visual pattern demonstrated that the black lower part of the clypeus of the parasite is the trait able to reduce host aggression. This pattern can be considered an honest signal since it visually amplifies the mandibular width, giving information about the parasite’s dangerousness. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Identifying broad-scale evolutionary processes that maintain phenotypic polymorphisms has been a major goal of modern evolutionary biology. There are numerous mechanisms, such as negative frequency-dependent selection, that may maintain polymorphisms, although it is unknown which mechanisms are prominent in nature. Traits used for individual recognition are strikingly variable and have evolved independently in numerous lineages, providing an excellent model to investigate which factors maintain ecologically relevant phenotypic polymorphisms. Theoretical models suggest that individuals may benefit by advertising their identities with distinctive, recognizable phenotypes. Here, we test the benefits of advertising one's identity with a distinctive phenotype. We manipulated the appearance of Polistes fuscatus paper wasp groups so that three individuals had the same appearance and one individual had a unique, easily recognizable appearance. We found that individuals with distinctive appearances received less aggression than individuals with nondistinctive appearances. Therefore, individuals benefit by advertising their identity with a unique phenotype. Our results provide a potential mechanism through which negative frequency-dependent selection may maintain the polymorphic identity signals in P. fuscatus. Given that recognition is important for many social interactions, selection for distinctive identity signals may be an underappreciated and widespread mechanism underlying the evolution of phenotypic polymorphisms in social taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foundresses and workers of Polistes paper wasps show slight morphological and physiological differences. However, after the emergence of the workers, the castes can be readily discriminated by their behaviour: the dominant foundress is the principal egg-layer, whereas workers perform different tasks linked to colony development. Previous studies have demonstrated in this genus that defence of the colony by the workers is more effectively carried out by a collective response elicited by venom volatiles used as alarm pheromones. In the present study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses of the venom volatiles of foundresses and workers of Polistes dominulus (Christ) show predominantly quantitative differences. Spiroacetals, mainly (E,E)-2,8-dimethyl-1,7-dioxaspiro[5.5]undecane, are significantly higher in the venom volatiles fraction of workers, whereas the amount of N-(3-methylbutyl)acetamide is almost double in foundresses. On the basis of the chemical results, behavioural assays were performed on fifteen field colonies to test the alarm response of the resident wasps to venom extracts from foundresses and workers. Our behavioural results suggest that worker venom has a stronger alarm effect on the colonies than that of the foundresses, which seems unable to elicit the complete alarm response ending with a final attack and sting. The venom volatiles of P. dominulus workers serve mainly to alarm the colony whilst those of foundresses may also be linked to additional functions related to conspecific interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using demography data for the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia fasciata collected at 10 survey stations over 5 years, the effects of foundress group size (FGS) on colony survival rate and production of progeny were examined. The distribution pattern for the frequency of nests established by different numbers of foundresses fit a 0-truncated negative binomial distribution. The rate of nest failure up to the beginning of June decreased with FGS, and colony survival rate up to June and September increased with FGS. Although there were large variations among stations and years, the survival rate of colonies established by a single foundress (haplometrotic colonies) was significantly lower than that of colonies established by two or more foundresses (pleometrotic colonies). The number of new adults that emerged per colony up to the end of July increased with FGS, but there was no significant correlation between number of new adults per foundress and FGS. The number of potential foundresses produced per colony tended to increase with FGS, but there was no significant difference among the values produced per foundress for the three FGS categories. The percentage parasitism by an ichneumon parasitoid, Arthula formosana, tended to be higher in colonies established by a small number of foundresses. The relation between FGS and the productivity of the new foundresses was not statistically significant, suggesting that independent founding may be a better strategy for future subordinate foundresses. However, the long colony life span (mean 100 days, maximum 240 days) as compared with the shorter life span of foundresses (40 or 50 days) may be a good condition for the coexistence of many egg-layers in a colony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nineteen species of the paper wasp genus Ropalidia are recorded from Vietnam, of which three are new records for Vietnam. A key to all of the species, distribution records and taxonomic remarks are given. New synonymies proposed are: Ropalidia bicolorata parvula van der Vecht, 1962, under R. bicolorata van der Vecht, 1962; R. hongkongensis juncta van der Vecht, 1941, under R. hongkongensis (de Saussure, 1854); Icaria jucunda Cameron, 1898, and R. marginata sundaica van der Vecht, 1941, under R. marginata (Lepeletier, 1836); R. rufocollaris atrata van der Vecht, 1941, under R. rufocollaris (Cameron, 1900); and R. stigma rufa van der Vecht, 1941 and R. stigma nigrolineata van der Vecht, 1962, under R. stigma (Smith, 1858). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The taxonomy of the Australian species of twoRopalidiaspecies groups, theR. stigmagroup andR. variegatagroup, is revised and their distribution patterns are discussed. Two species in theR. stigmagroup (R. darwiniandR. elegantula), and four species in theR. variegatagroup (R. flavinoda,R. gregaria,R. mutabilisandR. revolutionalis) are recognized in Australia, with a new synonymy ofR. mutabilis torresianaRichards, 1978, underR. gregaria(de Saussure, 1854).Icaria torridaSmith, 1863, from Seram Island is synonymized withR. unicolor(Smith, 1859). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mating structure and genetic relatedness among gynes (potential reproductive females) of the paper waspPolistes snelleniwere investigated using DNA microsatellite markers. All colonies had one foundress inseminated by a single male, and no sign of inbreeding was detected. The mean genetic relatedness among gynes was 0.734 ± 0.028 (SE), which is not significantly different from the expected value of 0.75 for full sisters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a series of demographic studies of the primitively eusocial waspRopalidia fasciatain Okinawa, a subtropical part of Japan, and found the following. The colony cycle of this wasp is annual, spanning from April to November or even December; this is longer than the colony cycles of other temperate polistine wasps so far reported. The survival rate of the marked foundresses was 40% to June, dropping to 1.4% by September. These survival rates are similar to other subtropical and tropical species. Most females that emerged in November were probably second generation adults (progeny of the original foundresses), which would participate in founding nests in the following spring. These facts indicate thatR. fasciatain Okinawa is at least partially bivoltine. Survival of a nest to September was 10–20%; however, because a failed nest is often rebuilt, survival of the colony to September was as high as 50%. The mean number of new foundresses produced per foundress was 7.5, and their overwintering survival was 16%. Hence, a single foundress produced, on average, 1.2 progeny foundresses to the following year. Density dependence was shown in the rate at which the progeny foundresses were produced. These results explain the remarkable stability of nest densities from year to year in the area. The above results reveal thatR. fasciatain Okinawa shares many demographic characteristics with other primitively eusocial wasps, particularly year-to-year stability of nest density and a long colony cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Morphological differences between queens and workers in an Australian swarm-founding paper wasp, Ropalidia romandi , were examined, providing detailed information on the nature of morphological caste differences in swarm-founding Ropalidia for the first time. Queens and workers differed in overall size and had divergent shapes, but differences were not always significant. In colonies in which queen–worker dimorphism was distinct, while the head width of queens was nearly the same as that of workers, queens were significantly larger in measures on the metasoma than workers. Plotting of metasomal variables against the mesosomal length and analysis of covariance showed that queen–worker morphological differentiation in R. romandi cannot be explained by simple linear allometric growth, suggesting that the two castes diverge in their growth parameters in the preadult stage. The pattern of morphological caste difference varied among colonies or was colony specific; there was no clear correlation between caste differences and colony cycle progression. These results suggest that morphological caste differences in R. romandi are determined genetically or by interactions between genetic background and intrinsic factors and/or external conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci for the Japanese paper wasp Polistes rothneyi using the magnetic particle method. Eight of the 10 loci tested were highly polymorphic, having four to eight alleles in P. rothneyi with an expected heterozygosity of 0.60–0.75. They also appeared to be applicable to other related species such as Polistes jokahamae. These loci can be used to study parameters concerning genetic relatedness such as worker reproduction and kin structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cooperative breeding decreases the direct reproductive output of subordinate individuals, but cooperation can be evolutionarily favored when there are challenges or constraints to breeding independently. Environmental factors, including temperature, precipitation, latitude, high seasonality, and environmental harshness have been hypothesized to correlate with the presence of cooperative breeding. However, to test the relationship between cooperation and ecological constraints requires comparative data on the frequency and variation of cooperative breeding across differing environments, ideally replicated across multiple species. Paper wasps are primitively social species, forming colonies composed of reproductively active dominants and foraging subordinates. Adult female wasps, referred to as foundresses, initiate new colonies. Nests can be formed by a single solitary foundress (noncooperative) or by multiple foundress associations (cooperative). Cooperative behavior varies within and among species, making paper wasps species well suited to disentangling ecological correlates of variation in cooperative behavior. This data set reports the frequency and extent of cooperative nest founding for 87 paper wasp species. Data were assembled from more than 170 published sources, previously unpublished field observations, and photographs contributed by citizen scientists to online natural history repositories. The data set includes 25,872 nest observations and reports the cooperative behavioral decisions for 45,297 foundresses. Species names were updated to reflect modern taxonomic revisions. The type of substrate on which the nest was built is also included, when available. A smaller population‐level version of this data set found that the presence or absence of cooperative nesting in paper wasps was correlated with temperature stability and environmental harshness, but these variables did not predict the extent of cooperation within species. This expanded data set contains details about individual nests and further increases the power to address the relationship between the environment and the presence and extent of cooperative breeding. Beyond the ecological drivers of cooperation, these high‐resolution data will be useful for future studies examining the evolutionary consequences of variation in social behavior. This data set may be used for research or educational purposes provided that this data paper is cited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]