The two blurry workers in the centre are performing gastral drumming Courtesy of Benjamin Taylor

Wasps literally drum up interest in food. They bang their abdomens against the walls of their nests, and it now seems this informs other wasps that food is available. It is the first time that wasps have been shown to communicate in this way.

Several species of wasp are known to perform “gastral drumming”. From time to time, they rapidly pummel their abdomens against their nest walls in a series of short bursts.

The scientists who first reported this behaviour in the 1960s thought …