Social insects are remarkable for their efficient social organization which is achieved through a fine balance between cooperation and conflict. The cooperative social unit, a colony, is put to a crisis when the queen is lost, which is rescued only after a new queen takes over the colony. My thesis is focused on the potential reproductive conflicts associated with queen succession in the primitively social wasp *Ropalidia marginata*, and proximate behavioural mechanisms contributing towards resolution of this conflict. We started by characterizing the natural phenomenon and then went
on to experimentally induce conflict to create situations that might lead to the queen succession in these colonies. We could show that, although
there is a lack of apparent conflict over reproduction, there is underlying reproductive conflict which can be uncovered by careful
experimental manipulation, and can be resolved by the colony members. This work has provided valuable insights to understand the maintenance of
functional integrity of the colony organization in this species.