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Raghavendra Gadagkar was a teenager when he first encountered the Indian paper wasp and has since spent decades unraveling the secrets of this remarkable species. The World of a Wasp takes readers along on his research journey, exploring how these insects form a highly evolved society with a sophisticated division of labor, efficient communication, and elaborate mechanisms for balancing cooperation and conflict to survive in a harsh tropical environment.

Although all the wasps in a colony look alike, only one is the fertile reproductive queen. The rest function as sterile workers laboring for the welfare of the colony, with duties ranging from building the nest and bringing food to feeding the larvae and guarding and cleaning the nest. Each chapter of this engaging book centers on a question, explaining the reasons behind it and the avenues Gadagkar and his students followed to arrive at an answer. How does a wasp become a queen? Why do the workers accept a subordinate role? How does a worker know what work to do? Through these and many other questions, Gadagkar invites readers to form their own conclusions and join in the discovery.

Drawing on careful observations and elegant experiments, The World of a Wasp offers a rare glimpse into the workings of a fascinating insect society and shares perspectives from a leading researcher on the practice and pleasures of science.