Vespa velutina Lepeletier

Siddiqui, Junaid Ali, Bodlah, Imran, Carpenter, James M., Naeem, Muhammad, Ahmad, Munir & Bodlah, Muhammad Adnan, 2015, Vespidae (Hymenoptera) of the Pothwar region of Punjab, Pakistan, Zootaxa 3914 (5), pp. 501-524 : 519-520

Vespa velutina Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, 1836

( Figs 35 a–b)

Vespa velutina “ De Haan” Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, 1836: 507, ♀, [ Indonesia] “ Inde: Java” (Torino?).

Vespa auraria Smith, 1852: 46 , pl. VIII, fig. 8, ♀, “Northern India ” (London, Oxford?).

Vespa crabro var. immaculata Morawitz, 1889: 161 , ♀, [ China] “Kansu. Nanpin.” (St. Petersburg), nom. praeocc., nec. Vespa immaculata Gmelin, 1790 .

Vespa fruhstorferi Stadelmann, 1894: 89 , ♀, [ Indonesia] “in den alpinen Theilen von West-Java auf dem Gunung-Gede ... in einer Höhe von 8000 Fuss” (Berlin?).

Vespa velutina var. ardens du Buysson, 1905: 550, ♀, ♂, [ Indonesia] “Lombok, Sapit (2000’ ...); I. Sumbawa, près Java” (Wien, Budapest, München, Paris).

Vespa auraria var. nigrithorax du Buysson, 1905: 553, ♀, ♂, [ India] “Dardjiling” (lectotype ♀ Paris).

Vespa velutina var. Celebensis Pérez, 1910: 12, ♀, [ Indonesia] “Bua-Kraeng (Sud-Célèbes)” (Paris).

Vespa velutina var. Megei Pérez, 1910: 13, ♀, “Koueï-Tchéou ( Chine centrale)” (Paris).

Vespa Mongolica var. divergens Pérez, 1910: 16 , ♀, [ Malaysia] “Perak” (lectotype Paris).

Vespa flavitarsus Sonan, 1929: 137 (key), 142, ♀, [ Taiwan] “Taiko-san (Kagi)” (coll. M. Kato).

Vespa velutina sumbana van der Vecht, 1957: 34 (key), 40, ♀, ♂, [ Indonesia] “Kananggar, E. Sumba, 700 m ” (holotype ♀ Leiden).

Vespa velutina variana van der Vecht, 1957: 35 (key), 37, ♀, “North Siam... Doi Hua Mot, 3000’“ (Leiden).

Vespa velutina karnyi van der Vecht, 1957: 35 (key), 38, ♀, ♂, [ Indonesia] “Bandar Buru, Deli” (holotype ♀ Leiden). Vespa velutina timorensis van der Vecht, 1957: 35 (key), 40, ♀, [ Indonesia] “Mollo, 1350 m, Timor” (Basel); also from another locality on Timor.

Vespa velutina floresiana van der Vecht, 1957: 35 (key), 40, ♀, [ Indonesia] “Labuan Badjo, Fores” (Leiden). Vespa velutina pruthii van der Vecht, 1959: 228, ♀, [ India] “Kashmir, Srinagar” (Calcutta).

Material examined. Rawalpindi, 13.ix.11, 5♀, 10.ix.12, 2♀, 22.xi.12, 7♀, 2♂, 19.ix.12, 6♀, 23.v.12, 12♀, 3♂, 14.iv.12, 3♀; Islamabad, 1.iv.12, 4♀; Murree, 14.x.12, 4♀; Attock, 20.v.12, 1♂, 26.v.12, 6♀; Jhelum, 25.ix.12, 5♀; Chakwal, 16.iv.12, 7♀. 1♂.

Distribution. Pakistan, Bhutan, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Taiwan Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and India; introduced into France, Spain and Portugal (Carpenter & Kojima 1997, Dvořák 2007, Mahmood et al. 2012).

Comments. These specimens were compared with the published description by Mahmood et al. (2012). This species can be recognized on basis of following characters: first and second metasomal segments with apical yellow band and 4th to 6th segments are golden. New locality records have been provided for this species.

Figures

FIGURE 35, Vespa velutina. a. Head, frontal view. b. Mesosoma, lateral view.