Mischocyttarus punctatus ( Ducke, 1904 )

Silveira, Orlando Tobias, Silva, Suzanna de Sousa & Felizardo, Sherlem Patricia de Seixas, 2015, Notes on social wasps of the group of Mischocyttarus (Omega) punctatus (Ducke), with description of six new species (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae), Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 59 (3), pp. 154-168 : 158-159

Mischocyttarus punctatus ( Ducke, 1904) ( Figs. 2 and 11C )

Megacanthopus punctatus Ducke, 1904: 363 ; Holotype: Female , Brazil, MA, Alcântara, 27 ix 1903, A. Ducke (MPEG) [examined].

Megacanthopus punctatus : Ducke, 1907: 189, pl. 3, Fig. 9 ; Overal, 1978: 6.

Mischocyttarus punctatus : Ducke, 1918: 353, 370 (in part); Richards, 1945: 404, Figs. 72, 73 (in part); Zikán, 1949: 118; Overal, 1978: 6; Richards, 1978: 370 (in part); Snelling, 1983: 279; Carpenter, 1999: 22; Garcete-Barrett, 1999: 27 (misidentification); Silveira, 2008: 517 (in part).

Short redescription. Wing length 7.0–8.0 mm. Clypeus about as high as wide, ratio H/WCL 0.98–1.04; first metasomal segment relatively robust ( Fig. 6 ), LSI/HMP 1.40–1.45, with the apex ca. 1.88–2.0 times wider than the basal petiole; sculpture of mesoscutum with disordered aspect, puncture diameter grading rather continuously from ca. 0.02 to 0.05 mm ( Fig. 11C ); pronotal carina more or less lobated at sides, but not very strongly concave forward. Reddish areas on pronotum of a lighter tone; propodeal marks very large and lung-shaped; first metasomal sternum yellow from base to apex. Male antennal article 13 well elongate but relatively broad, measuring about 0.25 mm, and being 2.54 times longer than broad (width measured in dorsal view), ca. 0.9 times as long as article 12+11, these articles proportionally quite broad, nearly quadrate, article 12 ca. 1.11 and article 11 ca. 0.90 times as long as broad. Nest comb as a single vertical row of cells.

Distribution: Trinidad; Surinam (1); Brazil: MA, PA (1; Richards, 1978: 371).

Remarks. Richards, 1978: 371 (but not 1945) described the male of M. punctatus without informing the collecting data of the specimen(s).The character conditions described are those normally referable to sexual differences, and the antennal characteristics reported by the author agree reasonably well with those described here, although article 13 may have been slightly little longer in Richards’ specimen. The proportions of the antennal apical articles described here are based on a male specimen from Trinidad deposited in the London Museum (NHM).

The only confirmed recent record for M. punctatus is from Maranhão, São José de Ribamar (see below), and all other citations by recent authors refer to other species. So M. punctatus is considerably less widespread than previously thought. Extreme northern records (i.e., Mexico; in Ducke, 1918) proved to be of a different species, described by Snelling (1983) as M. chalucas . In the appendix of Ducke (1918), the author refers to strong punctures on the vertex and thorax of the Mexican specimens examined at the Genève Museum – which are precisely the key diagnostic characters of the species described by Snelling. Specimens from various localities in Colombia deposited in the London Museum (NHM), and identified by Richards as punctatus , are actually representatives of four other species, three of them new (see below). Records from Paraguay ( Strand, 1912; Richards, 1945; Garcete-Barrett, 1999) refer to M. ryani sp. nov., described here based on specimens from the Brazilian states of Bahia and Minas Gerais as well as from Paraguay (see below).

Examined material. Trinidad: 1 male, v/1926, Fitzgerald , 1 female, 1 male, [n. 421] (92-53) ( NHM) ; Brazil: Maranhão , 1 male, 1 female (with fragment of nest), São José de Ribamar, Sítio Aguahy, 28/vii/2006, Azevedo, G. ( MPEG; other specimens in Universidade Federal do Maranhão); Pará , 3 females, 1 male (an extracted pupa) ( MPEG) , 1 female ( NHM) , Oriximiná, Rio Cuminá-mirim ( R. Trombetas ), 13/xii/1906 ; 2 females, Óbidos , xii/1913, A. Ducke ( MPEG) , 1 female, Santarém , 8/v/1969, R.L. Jeanne ( NHM) .

Figures

Figs. 1–10. Schematic drawings showing proportions and measurements of body parts. 1–6: first metasomal segment in dorsal view respectively of: (1) Mischocyttarus ryani sp. nov.; (2) M. punctatus; (3) M. anchicaya sp. nov.; (4) M. rodriguesi sp. nov.; (5) M. caxiuana sp. nov.; (6) M. verissimoi sp. nov. (length =2.78 mm); (7) head, frontal; (8) pronotum and mesoscutum, dorsal; (9) mesosoma, lateral; (10) left anterior wing. FHH: height of head; INTOW: distance between eyes at ocular sinus; HCLP, WCLP: height and width of clypeus; WCAR: width of pronotal carina; LMS, WMS: length and width of mesoscutum; HMP: height of mesopleuron; LDIS: length of discal cell of fore wing; LSI,WSI:length and apical width of first metasomal segment.

Fig. 11. (A–H) Partial halves of anterior mesosoma to show pronotal carina and mesoscutal sculpture (scale as in B):(A) Mischocyttarus rodriguesi sp. nov.; (B) M.caxiuana sp. nov.; (C) M. punctatus; (D) M. ryani sp. nov.; (E) M. tayrona sp. nov.; (F) M. anchicaya sp. nov.; (G) M. verissimoi sp. nov.; (H) M. vaqueroi. (I–L) Detail of mesoscutal sculpture (scale bar= 0.1mm): (I) M. anchicaya sp. nov.; (J) M. ryani sp. nov.; (K) M. rodriguesi sp. nov.; (L) M. caxiuana sp. nov. (M–N) Posterior view of head showing pre-foraminal region and occipital carina (scale as in N): (M) M. vaqueroi; (N) M. caxiuana sp. nov.