Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- I. History -- 1. Plant Feeders and Parasitoids -- Symphytans -- Apocrita -- Aculeata -- 2. Pollen Wasps, Potter Wasps, and Hover Wasps -- Euparagiinae -- Masarinae -- Eumeninae -- Stenogastrinae -- 3. Paper Wasps and Vespines -- Independent-founding Polistinae -- Swarm-founding Polistinae -- Vespinae -- 4. The Historical Scenario of Social Evolution -- Overview -- Diphyletic Sociality in Vespidae -- Sociality in Stenogastrinae -- Sociality in Polistinae (+ Vespinae) -- A Further Argument for Diphyletic Vespid Sociality -- Beyond the Sociality Threshold -- II. Dynamics -- 5. Individuals -- Midgut Proteases -- Free Amino Acids -- Fat Body and Storage Protein -- Polyphenism -- Diapause and Quiescence -- 6. Colonies -- Colony Founding and Nest Construction -- Alloparental Offspring -- Supplementation Experiments -- Œcotrophobiosis and Diminishment Experiments -- Dominance and Cofoundress Interactions -- 7. Populations -- An Exemplary Solitary Wasp -- Polistes -- Paper Wasps as Annuals -- Usurpation and Inquilinism -- Multiple Foundresses -- Opportunity for Selection -- Stenogastrines, Vespines, and Swarm Founders -- 8. The Dynamic Scenario of Social Evolution -- The Ovarian Ground Plan Hypothesis -- The Reproductive Ground Plan Hypothesis -- Life Cycles in Solitary Wasps -- The Diapause Ground Plan Hypothesis -- The Dynamic Scenario -- Synthesis -- Other Social Wasps -- Phylogenetic Implications -- The Selective Basis of Caste -- III. Paradigm Lost-and Found? -- 9. Kin Selection -- Haplodiploidy -- Sex Ratio -- Inclusive Fitness -- The Future of Kin Selection -- 10. Behavioral Ecology -- Altruism -- Teleology -- Labeling -- Adaptationism -- Asking Why -- The Real Difficulty -- 11. A Postmodern Synthesis -- Phenotypic Plasticity -- Colony-level Selection -- An Action Plan for Research on Vespidae -- Conclusion.

References -- Author Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Subject Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z.