Polistes (Polistella) celebensis Selis, 2018

Handru, Alan, Nugroho, Hari, Saito-Morooka, Fuki, Ubaidillah, Rosichon & Kojima, Jun-Ichi, 2020, Eusocial wasp fauna of Sulawesi Island, the central island of Wallacea (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae, Vespinae), Zootaxa 4885 (4), pp. 541-559 : 548

Polistes (Polistella) celebensis Selis, 2018

( Figs. 11–12, 15 , 27)

Polistes (Polistella) celebensis Selis, 2018: 435–438 .

Specimens examined. Sulawesi I.: South Sulawesi: 1 ♀ ( MSNVE; holotype of P. celebensis ), Maros, Bantimurung NP, IV.2016; South East Sulawesi: North Kolaka : 2 ♀ ( MZB), 03˚38’S 121˚04’E, Wawo, Tinukari [1 ♀, alt. ca. 280 m, 22.xii.2009, HN et al.; 1 ♀, alt. ca. 185 m, 24.vi.2010, RU et al.]; 1 ♀ ( MZB), 03˚39’S 121˚03’E, alt. ca. 45 m, Rante Angin, Tinukari, 2.vii.2010, RU et al.

Remarks. Selis (2018) described this species based on two females that he purchased from an insect dealer (Selis, personal communication), and thus it is not certain if the collection data is correct (if the data is correct, the specimens might have been collected and exported without permission from the Indonesian authorities). We have not found any specimens of this species from South Sulawesi among many Polistes (Polistella) specimens deposited in the MZB and IUNH. The diagnosis and description of this species given in Selis (2018) are insufficient to differentiate the species from the consubgeners so far described. This species is similar in external appearance and possibly closely allied to Polistes (Polistella) stigma , which has not been recorded but is actually common in Sulawesi I. as given in this paper, and P. celebensis can be differentiated from P. stigma and other consubgeners by the combination of the following characters (states for P. stigma are given in the brackets): POD about one times Od; clypeus covered with rather deep punctures ( Fig. 12 ) [punctures in clypeus shallow ( Fig. 14 )]; pronotum strongly punctured and without distinct striation, propodeum strongly striate [with weaker transverse striation]; T1 broad about 0.8 times as wide as long; fore wing with distinct cloud in marginal cell; hind tarsal claws asymmetrical ( Fig. 15 ) [more or less symmetrical ( Fig. 16 )]; body black, with extensive reddish-brown and yellow markings; clypeus reddish-brown in dorsal half, yellow in ventral half, with a small paired brown spots at apex ( Fig. 12 ) [clypeus entirely yellow ( Fig. 14 )].

Selis (2018: 437), without referring to P. stigma , mentioned that “black coloration with extensive red markings and some yellow lines seems to be common in Vespidae from Sulawesi, indicating the existence of a mimicry complex” and listed seven species in four eumenine (potter wasp) genera and two polistine Ropalidia species ( R. plebeja and R. pilosa ) showing this coloration. The coloration of these eumenine wasps may be considered in the context of Batesian mimicry only when Polistes stigma is taken into consideration, but the two Ropalidia seem to us to have such different coloration from P. celebensis and P. stigma that we could not consider their coloration as Mullerian mimicry.

Distribution records: Sulawesi I.: South Sulawesi ( Selis, 2018), South East Sulawesi (present study).

Figures

FIGURES 7–16. ♀ of Polistes species. 7–8. P. tenebricosus. 9–10. P. sagittarius. 11–12, 15. P. celebensis. 13–14, 16. P. stigma. 7, 9, 12, 14. Head, frontal view, an arrow in 7 and 9 indicates anterior tentorial pit. 8. First two metasomal segments, lateral view, an arrow indicates basal angle of S1. 10, 11, 13. Habitus, lateral view, 15–16. Hind tarsal claws. Scale line 1 mm.