Queen succession conflict in the paper wasp Polistes dominula is mitigated by age-based convention

Reproduction in cooperative animal groups is often dominated by one or a few individuals, with the remaining group members relegated to non-reproductive helping roles. This reproductive skew can evolve if helpers receive fitness benefits such as potential future inheritance of the breeding position, but the mechanisms by which inheritance is determined are not well resolved. Polistes paper wasps form highly reproductively skewed groups and inheritance of the breeding position is likely to play a key role in the maintenance of this social structure, making them excellent models for the processes by which simple societies are maintained. Reproductive succession is thought to be determined via an age-based convention in some Polistes species, but there is also evidence for contest-based succession systems in which the replacement queen uses physical aggression to overpower and thereby subordinate her nestmates. Here we provide evidence that queen succession in colonies of the European pape...