Mischocyttarus heliconius Richards, 1941

Pinheiro, Mileudiane O. & Silveira, Orlando T., 2023, Taxonomic notes on the group of Mischocyttarus heliconius Richards 1941, with description of four new species (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae), Zootaxa 5352 (2), pp. 203-220 : 206-207

Mischocyttarus heliconius Richards, 1941

Mischocyttarus heliconius Richards, 1941: 125 , 128. Holotype: ♀, Guyana, Essequibo R., Moraballi Creek , 20.ix.1929 (Oxford Univ. Exped.) (NHM), examined.

Mischocyttarus heliconius: Richards, 1945: 311 , 338.

Mischocyttarus heliconius var. heliconius Richards, 1945: 311 , 339.

Mischocyttarus heliconius var. iperuae Richards, 1945: 311 , 340 (misidentification).

Mischocyttarus heliconius: Zikán, 1949:185

Mischocyttarus heliconius morph heliconius: Richards 1978: 282 , 284.

Mischocyttarus heliconius morph. iperuae: Richards, 1978: 282 , 284 (misidentification).

Mischocyttarus heliconius: Silveira, 1998: 363 , 364; 2008: 541; 2010: 55, 56.

The redescription below is based on examination of the holotype and previous published work ( Richards, 1945, 1978; Silveira, 2008).

Diagnosis. Ground color brown with yellow marks, metasoma distally black; clypeus narrow, with disk pale yellow, and with dense silvery bristles; posterior ocelli separated by distance less than or equal to one ocellar diameter; occipital carina hardly developed; pronotal carina angularly raised at center; metasomal tergum 1 and 2 (basally) light brown, distal third of 2 to 6, black; inner hind tarsal claw with tip rounded and expanded.

FEMALE DESCRIPTION. Length of fore wing: 12.0–13.0 mm; head in frontal view slightly higher than wide (FHH/INTOW: 1.10); clypeus higher than wide (HCLP/WCLP: ca. 1.16), apex narrowly rounded; upper free portion of lateral margin relatively long and straight in its course to tentorial pit; this closer to the eye than to the antennal socket; malar space narrow; occiput with dorsal carina low, hardly developed; posterior ocelli separated by a distance less than or equal to one ocellar diameter; POL/OOL: 0.30; anterior margin of pronotum medially with lamella wide and reflexed, without a secondary margin immediately behind; pronotum with lateral fovea; pronotal carina continuous from side to side, not lobed on the humeral region, angularly elevated at center; mesoscutum as long as wide (LMS/WMS: 1.0), lateral margin adjacent to tegula with well-developed lamella; hind leg inner tarsal claw with tip rounded and expanded; first metasomal segment ca. 2.7 times wider at the apex than at the base. Fore wing moderately elongated (LDIS/HMP: ca. 2.50).

Sculpture. Integument surface granular; clypeus with small and sparse punctures, apical region reticulate; mandible with surface reticulate, shiny and with sparse large punctures; frons sculpture similar to clypeus; mesopleuron finely granulated with scattered small punctures.

Vestiture. Body with whitish pubescence; mandible with rather larger and sparse bristles; surface of clypeus with short and dense silvery hairs; distal margin of the clypeus with a row of larger bristles; pronotum and mesopleuron with short and dense hairs, and some larger bristles; mesoscutum with short and dense hairs; metasoma with numerous short, obliquely oriented bristles.

Color. Brown with pale yellow marks; antenna light brown except dorsally dark brown, and the scape ventrally yellow; disk of clypeus pale yellow; mandible with same color as clypeus except for brown edges; band adjacent to the inner margin of the eye (from the upper free margin of clypeus up to the vertex), two small spots on the upper inner portion of the interantennary space adjacent to the antennal sockets, evanescent band adjacent to the outer margin of the eye, area associated to the pronotal carina, two narrow stripes on the mesoscutum and shorter ones adjoining tegulae, axillae, anterior band on scutellum, anterior band on metanotum, wide lungshape paired spots on propodeum, weak evanescent mark on the dorsal mesepisternal plate, mark on posterior region of the mesopleuron, mark on the apical portion of the tibiae, pale yellow; first metasomal segment (with narrow and inconspicuous yellow distal band) and anterior portion of the second, light brown dorsally and ventrally; posterior portion of second metasomal segment and segments 3–6, black dorsal and ventrally. Wings hyaline, with light brown venation.

MALE. Unknown.

NEST. A small comb, with symmetrical development; color brown, made of irregular wood pieces; pedicel elongated, centric, and with varnished aspect ( Richards, 1945; Richards, unpublished manuscript; and examined photograph).

Distribution. GUYANA: Essequibo R., Moraballi Creek; Potaro, R., trail from Tukeit to Kaieteur Savannah ( Fig. 27 ).

Photographs of the holotype can be examined through the following internet link (site of the NHM; accessed in September 27, 2022): https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/56e711e6-c847-4f99-915a-6894bb5c5dea/resource/05ff2255- c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/9133906

Remarks. The holotype was previously examined by O. T. S., and recently by photographs. The nest associated with the holotype described by Richards in 1945 was collected on the abaxial surface of a leaf of Heliconia sp. The species is hitherto only known from the type specimens.

Richards’ descriptions (1941, 1945, 1978) emphasized coloration rather than structural characteristics. He also mentioned that the metasoma is testaceous, but it is in fact mostly black. Richards’ works recognized two varieties (or morphs) of M. heliconius (“ var. heliconius ” and “ var. iperuae ”), but in the 1978 book he already said about iperuae that “ This form might really be a distinct species …”. Silveira (2010) confirmed the conditions of both heliconius and iperuae as distinct specific taxa. M. heliconius differs from M. iperuae by the clypeus higher and narrower, covered by dense silvery bristles, the posterior ocelli closer to each other (separated by less than one ocellar diameter), and the inner hind tarsal claw being expanded at the apex.

Figures

FIGURE 27. Partial map of South America with known distributions of the species of the Mischocyttarus heliconius species group.