Self-organization of hierarchies in animal societies: the case of the primitively eusocial waspPolistes dominulusChrist

Abstract Possible self-organizing processes leading to the formation of hierarchies in animal societies are studied. Biological data collected on the eusocial wasp Polistes dominulus Christ are first presented and used as a basis for building simple models. The models rely on a basic positive feedback mechanism, and assume that individuals do not recognize each other. Models were tested with Monte Carlo simulations, and, depending on parameters such as the functional forms used to describe the probabilities that an individual starts and subsequently wins a fight, we found an ensemble of different profiles whose functional implications are discussed.