 Polistes exclamans have comparably smaller nests and colonies compared to certain other eusocial wasps species . Thus , it is common for the nest to be destroyed , for the queen to die prior to the end of the season , or for the nest to fail through other means , such as predation , <unk> , or worker mortality , leading workers to help rear broods that are less related to them than are their sister wasps . Due to this , it would be advantageous for there to be wasps that remain <unk> till adulthood , allowing female wasps ’ reproductive capabilities to be plastic . It has thus been predicted that Polistes exclamans worker wasps would act as workers if a brood were present and would begin to develop gyne characteristics if a brood was not present , exhibiting the aforementioned adaptive plasticity . Experimentally , this has been found to be true . Solis and Strassmann conducted a study in which an experimental group had the eggs and larvae removed . In the experimental group , the wasps began to behave like future queens and even developed the characteristic layer of fat common to queens . In the control group , the wasps continued to behave as workers . This is indicative that the presence of the brood affects caste differentiation and that Polistes exclamans female workers exhibits adaptive reproductive plasticity . 
