Sex and lifestyle dictate learning performance in a neotropical wasp
Rafael Carvalho da Silva,
João Marcelo Robazzi Bignelli Valente Aguiar,
Cintia Akemi Oi,
Jaqueline Eterna Batista,
Martin Giurfa,
Fabio Santos do Nascimento
Affiliations
Rafael Carvalho da Silva
Universidade de São Paulo – USP/ Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Departamento de Biologia, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo 14040-900, Brasil; Corresponding author
João Marcelo Robazzi Bignelli Valente Aguiar
Universidade de São Paulo – USP/ Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Departamento de Biologia, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo 14040-900, Brasil
Cintia Akemi Oi
Centre for Environment and Biodiversity, Department of Genetics Evolution & Environment, University College London, WC1E 6BT London, UK
Jaqueline Eterna Batista
Universidade de São Paulo – USP/ Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Departamento de Biologia, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo 14040-900, Brasil
Martin Giurfa
Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), University of Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France; Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
Fabio Santos do Nascimento
Universidade de São Paulo – USP/ Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Departamento de Biologia, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo 14040-900, Brasil
Summary: In contrast to extensive investigations on bee cognition, the cognitive capacities of wasps remain largely unexplored despite their key role as pollinators and predators of insect pests. Here we studied learning and memory in the neotropical wasp Mischocyttarus cerberus using a Pavlovian conditioning in which harnessed wasps respond with conditioned movements of their mouthparts to a learned odorant. We focused on the different castes, sexes, and ages coexisting within a nest and found that adults of M. cerberus learned and memorized efficiently the odor-sugar associations. In contrast, newly emerged females, but not males, were unable to learn odorants. This difference concurs with their different lifestyle as young males perform regular excursions outside the nest while young females remain in it until older age. Our results thus highlight the importance of socio-ecological constraints on wasp cognition and set the basis for mechanistic studies on learning differences across ages and castes.
