据发表在新一期PNAS（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences）的文章报道，与多个蜂后生活在公社性群体中的纸巢黄蜂可识别各自的脸孔。这种能力与该黄蜂的区别形状和图案的较为一般的能力是分开的；它看来是各种谱系的包括人在内的社会性动物独立演化而成的一种专门的技能。
Michael Sheehan 和 Elizabeth Tibbetts假设：纸巢黄蜂Polistes fuscatus 学会辨识脸孔画面的速度会比辨识其它画面更快，而且精度更高。他们还预测，一种密切相关的其蜂巢中只有一个蜂后的物种Polistes metricus 则不会有这种学习识别长相的特别官能。
研究人员用T-形迷宫来训练这两种黄蜂区分两幅画面，这种迷宫的整个地面除了某一分部中的一个安全区之外都是通电的。尽管安全区本身的地点在每次试验中会有变化，这两种画面中的一幅—有时为一个黄蜂的脸，有时为另外一个画面—始终被放置在该安全区中。纸巢黄蜂学习识别“安全”脸孔的速度要比与该安全区相关的其它画面的速度更快，而且它们做到这点的速度也要比P. metricus 更快。文章的作者提出，黄蜂和哺乳动物有着显着不同的眼睛和神经结构，但这两个组群却独立地演化出了识别其物种中其它个体脸孔的能力。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1110306108
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Specialized Face Learning Is Associated with Individual Recognition in Paper Wasps
Michael J. Sheehan, Elizabeth A. Tibbetts
We demonstrate that the evolution of facial recognition in wasps is associated with specialized face-learning abilities. Polistes fuscatus can differentiate among normal wasp face images more rapidly and accurately than nonface images or manipulated faces. A close relative lacking facial recognition, Polistes metricus, however, lacks specialized face learning. Similar specializations for face learning are found in primates and other mammals, although P. fuscatus represents an independent evolution of specialization. Convergence toward face specialization in distant taxa as well as divergence among closely related taxa with different recognition behavior suggests that specialized cognition is surprisingly labile and may be adaptively shaped by species-specific selective pressures such as face recognition.
