Lack of kin discrimination during wasp colony fission

The tightly integrated, cooperative nature of social insect colonies can be threatened by kin-selected conflicts among colony mates. Some conflicts are known to occur when classes of relatives can be distinguished by obvious cues such as sex. However, less is known about the more pervasive and potentially destructive conflicts that would arise if individuals could generally recognize and preferentially aid their closest kin within a colony. To study natural discrimination in colonies with many batrilines or matrilines, where it should be most profitable to individuals, requires good molecular markers. We used microsatellite genotyping to show that a highly polygynous social wasp does not exercise within-colony discrimination in the context of colony fissioning.