Paper wasp colonies may include several queens. True or False?

Prepare for the Maine Pesticide Structural Licensing Test. Study with flashcards and multiple-choice questions, each with hints and explanations. Get ready for your exam!

The statement that paper wasp colonies may include several queens is correct. In some species of paper wasps, colonies can indeed consist of multiple queens. This is in contrast to many other social insects, such as honeybees, where typically only one queen is present in a colony. The presence of multiple queens can help a colony grow and thrive more efficiently, as different queens can lay eggs and contribute to the colony's reproduction.

In multi-queen wasp colonies, the queens often cooperate in raising the young and managing the colony. This social structure can provide advantages like increased reproductive capacity and diverse genetic variability within the colony's offspring, which can contribute to the success and survival of the colony overall.

The misconception might come from an inclination to assume that all social insects follow the single-queen model, which is not the case with all wasp species, leading to the incorrect understanding that paper wasps always have only one queen.

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