Wasps of the species Liostenogaster flavolineata , which live in some tropical forests of Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, are able to memorize the faces of the members of their colony . In fact, they attack individuals whose facial patterns they don't recognize.
This has been determined by a team of biologists from Queen Mary University of London, who have found that these insects use a double identification system to know if one of their congeners is welcome or not in the nest. Like other wasps, they study the scent of the stranger, but after investigating more than 50 groups of these animals, experts have learned that they also visually examine their face.
Each nest houses a family of related individuals. However, tens or hundreds of these structures are often found very close to each other, as if it were a city.
In this way, it is not strange that some wasps access a nest other than their own, both to get their resources and to deposit their eggs there. According to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B , resident insects react aggressively when they do not recognize the face of visitors , even before knowing if it is one of their comrades by smell.
