wasps chose the food source that was guarded by the wasp with fewer spots 39 of 48 times. Therefore, the dominance of wasps of the same size is predicted by facial coloring, with more dominant individuals having more spots. Researchers experimented to determine whether social costs maintain the honesty of facial signals. They altered the facial coloring of wasps and then put them together to battle. The winner is clearly identified by mounting the loser while the loser lowers its antennae. While the manipulation of coloring did not affect which won the battle for dominance, it did significantly affect the behavior after the battle. Losers that were painted with more spots experienced six times more aggression than controls that had not been painted. The honesty of facial coloring is explained by social costs that are imposed when wasps do not signal honestly. Male dominance Male abdominal spots correlate with dominance. Smaller, elliptically shaped spots reflect a more dominant male that is preferred by females and wins competitions with other males. This is in contrast to males with larger, irregularly shaped abdominal spots that are generally subordinate and less sexually successful. Males cannot sting and would solely have only their mandibles as a form of defense. Abdomen-stroking behaviors Abdomen rubbing of the female P. dominula occurs during the egg stage of the colonies, more in multiple-female colonies than in solitary colonies. Several functions of female abdominal rubbing are possible, one of them being painting predator-resistant chemicals on the surface of the nest for defense. A second possible function is to communicate the dominance status of the female to the young brood. Alpha females perform abdomen stroking more than subordinate females. After an alpha female is removed, subordinates increase their abdomen stroking rate. The substances secreted during the rubbing have two potential functions: repressing future ovarian development in the brood or informing the brood of which adult female is the dominant individual. Relatedness P. dominula is a social insect that lives in colonies. They are haplodiploid insects, as are other Polistes species. The haploid males produce identical haploid sperm, and diploid females produce haploid eggs through meiosis. In most social insects, colonies are composed of related individuals, and social insects are assumed to help close relatives according to W. D. Hamilton's theory of kin selection. However, in P. dominula, 35% of the nest mates are unrelated. In many other species, unrelated individuals