Latest Robert Jeanne Stories

Future queen or tireless toiler? A paper wasp's destiny may lie in the antennal drumbeats of its caretaker.While feeding their colony's larvae, a paper wasp queen and other dominant females periodically beat their antennae in a rhythmic pattern against the nest chambers, a behavior known as antennal drumming.The drumming behavior is clearly audible even to human listeners and has been observed for decades, prompting numerous hypotheses about its purpose, says Robert Jeanne, a professor...