Species with widespread distributions frequently show clines in body size across broad geographic areas. These clines may be the result of “ecogeographical rules” that describe spatial patterns of phenotypic differences driven by environmental variation. Intraspecific variation in body size, and the mechanisms causing this variation, have been poorly described in social wasps. This study examined ecogeographical patterns of body size for 12 native species and one non-native species of North American paper wasps (genus: Polistes) using body size measurements from > 14,000 pinned museum specimens. Intraspecific body size was correlated with latitude, elevation, and broadscale climate variation. However, the direction of this relationship was idiosyncratic across species, with Bergmann’s clines and converse Bergmann’s clines equally represented. There was no evidence of a phylogenetic signal in the direction of the cline between body size and the environment. Within species, the worker caste and the reproductive caste showed the same direction of response between body size and latitude, although for most species the reproductive caste was larger than the worker caste. Intraspecific variation in body size appears to be driven by differences in the response among species to similar environmental variables but the mechanisms causing this variation remain unknown.

分布广泛的物种经常在广泛的地理区域显示出身体大小的变化。这些线索可能是“生态地理规则”的结果，该规则描述了环境变化驱动的表型差异的空间格局。体型内种内变异以及引起这种变异的机制在社会黄蜂中很少被描述。这项研究调查了北美纸黄蜂的12种本土物种和一种非本土物种的体型生态地理格局（属：Polistes）使用从超过14,000个固定的博物馆标本中进行的身体尺寸测量。种内体重与纬度，海拔和广泛的气候变化有关。但是，这种关系的方向在整个物种中是异质的，伯格曼氏氏家族和相反的伯格曼氏氏家族同样得到了体现。没有证据表明在体型和环境之间的系系方向上有系统发育信号。在种内，工人种姓和生殖种姓在体型和纬度之间显示出相同的响应方向，尽管对于大多数物种而言，生殖种姓大于种姓。种内的种内变化似乎是由物种之间对相似环境变量的响应差异所驱动的，但导致这种变化的机制仍然未知。