Apoica (Apoica) strigata Richards, 1854

PICKETT, KURT M. & WENZEL, JOHN W., 2007, Revision and Cladistic Analysis of the Nocturnal Social Wasp Genus, Apoica Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae, Epiponini), American Museum Novitates 3562 (1), pp. 1-32 : 25-26

Apoica (Apoica) strigata Richards

Apoica virginea ; de Saussure, 1854: 107 [partim].

Apoica pallida ‘‘typical form’’; Bequaert, 1943 (1942): 110 [partim].

Apoica pallida var. arborea ; Bequaert, 1943 (1942): 116 [partim].

Apoica strigata Richards , 1978262 (key), 267, fig. 107, female, male, ‘‘ PERU: Junín, Chanchamayo’ ’ (holotype female, BMNH).

DISTRIBUTION: Brazil: Acre, Amazonas , Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará; Bolivia : Cochabamba; Costa Rica; Colombia: Amazonas , Caquetá, Meta; Ecuador : Napo, Pichincha; Guyana; Peru : Cuzco, Huánuco, Junín, Loreto; Trinidad .

MATERIAL EXAMINED: Brit. Guiana: Confluence of Oronoque & New Rivers, ix–xii.1937 ( BMNH, Brit. Mus. 1938-319,1 female); PERU, Loreto, Pucalpa (sic), 5.v.1962, J.M. Schunke, det. Apoica strigata, O. W. Richards ( BMNH, B.M. 1962-491, 1 PARATYPE female); PERU: Chanchamayo, 4-iii- 1949, J.M. Schunke, det. Apoica strigata, O. W. Richards ( BMNH, B.M. 1962-645, 1 PARATYPE male); PERU: Huanuco, Tingo Maria, 21– 23.viii.1971, C. & M. Vardy ( BMNH, B.M 1971- 533, 2 males); GUYANA, 1974, S. Rawlins ( BMNH, 1 male); Trinidad: May 1924, L.E. Cheesman, det. Cheesman as Apoica virginea ( BMNH, 1 PARATYPE, male). ECUADOR: Pichincha n. Nanegal, 19–20.ix.1977 ( BMNH, 1

male); PERU: Loreto, 03d 15m 30s S, 72d 54m 45s W, J. H. Hunt (personal coll. J. H. Hunt, 44 females) ; PERU: Huanuco, Rondos nr. Monzon , 24.ix.1960, J.M. Schunke ( BMNH, B.M. 1961-64, 1 male) .

Although Richards (1978) was correct to describe A. strigata , as it is clearly not A. arborea , he was incorrect when he said that A. arborea never has pale longitudinal stripes on its mesonotum. A. arborea males do have ‘‘striped’’ scuta, even though the females never have this character. In fact, male A. arborea look very much like male A. strigata , but A. arborea can always be distinguished from all other Apoica by its flagellomeres ( fig. 21 ) and hind wing ( fig. 22 ). In addition, the genitalia of A. strigata and A. arborea are quite distinct (for example, see fig. 8 ).

Figures

Fig. 21. Flagellomeres: A, Apoica arborea. Flagellomeres are ‘‘knotted’’, or convex both dorsally (1 and 2) and ventrally (3); B, Apoica pallida. Dorsal flagellomeres are either slightly convex (19) or nearly flat (29), as is typical of other vespids. Ventral flagellomeres are nearly flat (39).

Fig. 22. Anal lobe: A, Apoica arborea, anal lobe present; B, Apoica albimacula, anal lobe absent (here severely reduced).

Fig. 8. Digitus shape: A, Apoica arborea, posterior surface expanded, forming a triangular shape; B, Apoica strigata, fingerlike and curved. Scale bars 5 1.0 mm.