Comparative linkage mapping to investigate synteny and recombination in social Vespidae.

This article focuses on the construction and comparative analysis of high-density genetic linkage maps for three Vespula yellowjacket wasp species—*Vespula consobrina*, *Vespula pensylvanica*, and *Vespula vidua*—to investigate their genomic architecture, synteny, and recombination landscapes. The study reveals a high degree of conserved synteny among these species, with chromosome-length blocks largely collinear, alongside some fine-scale rearrangements and likely genome assembly artifacts identified as inversions. Genome-wide recombination rates are notably high across all three species (ranging from 22.7 to 24.7 centiMorgans per megabase), consistent with patterns observed in other eusocial Hymenoptera, and recombination landscapes exhibit substantial intra- and interchromosomal variation without a significant relationship between chromosome size and recombination rate. These linkage maps provide valuable genomic resources for future evolutionary genetics research on social wasps and contribute to understanding genome evolution in relation to social behavior.