Angiopolybia paraensis (Spinola, 1851)

Barroso, Paulo Cezar Salgado, Menezes, Rodolpho Santos Telles, de Oliveira, Marcio Luiz & Somavilla, Alexandre, 2022, A systematic review of the Neotropical social wasp genus Angiopolybia Araujo, 1946 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): species delimitation, morphological diagnosis, and geographical distribution, Arthropod Systematics & amp; Phylogeny 80, pp. 75-97 : 75

Angiopolybia paraensis (Spinola, 1851)

Figs 5a-f , 6k-o , 7j-l

Polistes paraensis Spinola, 1851: 60.

Polybia paraensis ; de Saussure, 1854: 185, pl. XXIII fig. 2 (in division Phi ).

Polybia ruficornis Ducke, 1905b: 20; Ducke 1910: 526 (synonym of Angiopolybia paraensis (Spinola, 1953)); Richards, 1978: 235 (lectotype designation) [examined by images].

Stelopolybia paraensis ; Ducke, 1910: 519 (key), 526 (nest, synonym: P. ruficornis Ducke, 1905b); Bequaert, 1944: 293 (key), 294 (typical Angiopolybia paraensis ).

Stelopolybia paraensis var. ruficornis ; Ducke, 1910: 526.

Stelopolybia paraensis var. (or subspecies) Angiopolybia obscurior Bequaert, 1944: 295 [examined by images].

Angiopolybia paraensis ; Araujo, 1946: 169; Andena et al., 2007: 60 (characteres matrix), 61 (fig. 1B), 62 (fig. 4B, 5 - cladogram), 63 (key), 64 (locality of examined material).

Stelopolybia (Angiopolybia) paraensis Richards and Richards, 1951: 80 (list).

Angiopolybia paraensis obscurior ; van der Vecht, 1972: 737.

Type locality.

Pará, Brazil.

Diagnose.

Anterior wing of 13-15 mm; eyes with very small-sized and sparse bristles; angulate gena with enlarged lower region; pronotal lamella low on the anterior margin, one fifth of the height of antennal socket; axillary fossa with anterior margin directed to the anterior region; posterior submedian translucent mark not inserted in a depression.

Redescription of female (Fig. 5a, b, c).

Size. (1) Head 2.01 mm long, 3.35 mm high, and 3.71 mm wide; (2) mesosoma 6 mm long, anterior wing 14.78 mm long, and posterior wing 10.37 mm long; (3) metasoma 10.8 mm long. Head. (1) Lateral ocelli with 0.27 mm and median ocellus with 0.29 mm of diameter, inserted in a declivity of the vertex and the lateral ocelli separated from the eyes for two times its diameter. (2) Compound eyes with very small-sized and sparse bristles. (3) Frons with interantennal space with 1.7 times the height of antennal socket. Anterior tentorial fovea closer to the antennal socket than to the eye. Central region of the frons with very long bristles. (4) Antennal socket 0.37 mm high. (5) Clypeus as high as wide, contact with eyes for a distance of approximately the height of antennal socket and lateral lobe not touching the eye. Clypeus with long bristles, but with very long bristles on the apical margin. (6) Gena wider than half of the width of the eye at the level of the ocular sinus. Mesosoma. (1) Anterior lamella of pronotum with height of one fifth of the height of antennal socket. Pronotal fovea with ellipsoid shape, shallow, and with slight anterior prominence. (2) Mesoscutum convex and 1.2 times longer than wide. (3) Tegula 1.6 times longer than wide. (4) Axillary fossa with anterior margin directing to the anterior region. (5) Propodeum with translucent posterior submedian mark, anterior to the propodeal valve, not inserted in a depression. Propodeal valve complete and expanded, median region with half of the height of antennal socket. (6) Anterior wing with prestigma as long as wide. (7) Posterior wing with 13 hamuli. Metasoma. (1) Metasomal tergum I 1.5 times longer than broad. Tergum with angulation in the posterior third, in lateral view. (2) Metasomal tergum II 0.7 times longer than broad and with a row of very long bristles on the posterior margin. Color. Yellowish-brown in general. Yellow: lateral of the vertex, lateral of the frons, interantennal elevation, lateral and the lower margin of the clypeus, mandibles, gena, anterior half of the lower quarter of the gena, malar space, band contouring the posterior margin of the pronotum, tegula, spot anterior to the scrobal furrow of the mesepisternum, longitudinal submedian band and thin lateral band in the mesoscutum, axilla, metanotum, submedian band in the propodeum, margin anterior to the propodeal valve, upper region of the metapleural basalar area, apex of the femora, tibiae and tarsi, bands on the posterior margins of the metasomal terga I-V, in the anterior margin of the sternum II, and in the posterior margins of the sterna II-IV. Brown: a spot that extends from the vertex to the middle of the frons, transversal band in the pronotum, scrobal furrow, region posterior to the scrobal furrow, metapleural basalar area, lateral bands of the propodeum, and metasomal terga I and II. Dark brown: ocellar area, mesoscutum, posterior half of the scutellum, posterior margin of the metanotum, bands in furrow and in anterior marginal of the propodeum, and metasomal terga III and IV. Reddish-brown: lower margin of the clypeus and mandibular teeth. Reddish yellow antenna. Wings with yellowish-brown in cells and in venation, except reddish-brown in the veins C, Sc+R, M+Cu, M, at the beginning of the Cu and pterostigma.

Description of male (Fig. 5d, e, f).

Size. (1) Head 1.40 mm long, 3.08 mm high, and 3.47 mm wide; (2) mesosoma 5.28 long, anterior wing 14.2 mm long, and posterior wing 9.9 mm long; (3) metasoma 10.5 mm long. Head. (1) Lateral ocelli with 0.24 mm and median ocellus with 0.28 mm of diameter, and lateral ocelli separated from the eyes for 1.7 times its diameter. (2) Frons with interantennal space with 1.5 times the height of antennal socket. Anterior tentorial fovea closer to the eye than to the antennal socket. (3) Antennal socket with 0.34 mm high. (4) Clypeus 1.2 times higher than wide and apex less acute than in the female. Pubescence stronger than in the female. (5) Gena with half of the width of the eye at the level of the ocular sinus. Mesosoma. (1) Mesoscutum 1.1 times longer than wide. (2) Propodeum without translucent posterior submedian mark. Propodeal valve with a median region with two third of the height of antennal socket. (3) Anterior wing with prestigma as long as wide. (4) Posterior wing with 14 hamuli. Metasoma. (1) Metasomal tergum I 1.7 times longer than broad. (2) Metasomal tergum II 0.8 times longer than wide. Genitalia (Fig. 6k - o). Paramere 2.3 mm long and 0.9 mm wide; parameral spine with one fifth of the paramere, curved upwards and with long bristles; lobe with rounded apex and not curved. Aedeagus 1.68 mm long; enlarged valve with a small emargination in the tip; apical portion 0.72 mm long and curved to the venter, ventral margin with denticles directed for the anterior region; denticulation with large and conical denticles in the basal and apical thirds and denticles reduced in the middle third, more sclerotized than the rest of the apical portion; small-sized bristles with alveolar base, closer in the lower half and sparse in the upper half; median expansion without denticles and with acute apex; lateral apodeme flattened dorsoventrally at the apex; sinuous basal apodeme. Digitus 2.7 times longer than wide; apical process little curved in the region of the upper half and with bristles of alveolar base small and sparse; rounded anteroventral lobe with a strip of black scale-like bristles crossing it obliquely at the base of the digitus; bristles absent in the lower margin and in the basal articulation. Cuspis approximately 0.46 mm long, with 26 black scale-like bristles on the lateral lobe, and long bristles with alveolar base and close throughout the area of the cuspis, except sparse in the central region.

Morphological variation (Fig. 7j-l).

Anterior wing of 13-15 mm; posterior wing of 13-19 hamuli; Angiopolybia paraensis occurs in three color variants, identified by Richards (1978) as A. paraensis morph Angiopolybia paraensis (yellow specimens), A. paraensis morph Polybia ruficornis (brown and yellow specimens) and A. paraensis morph Angiopolybia obscurior (brown specimens). Angiopolybia paraensis show small changes between yellow populations and between brown and yellow populations, such as a slightly darker color or some yellow marks, respectively, but they are well-defined. Despite the color variation, the morphological characteristics of female and male adults, and male genitalia used in the description are preserved in the three forms, so they should not be treated as subspecies or differentiated as morphs. Only a few A. paraensis populations, with dark brown color from French Guiana and Suriname, showed morphological variations such as the absence of very long bristles in the posterior margin of the metasomal tergum II and propodeum with a region anterior to the spiracle less projected in the metapleural basalar area. However, we believe that this evidence is still insufficient to justify a new species. Moreover, the analysis of species delimitation with molecular data (see below) showed that these variants are within the intraspecific limits of A. paraensis .

Nest.

Described by Schulz (1903) as a spherical nest about 25 mm in diameter (possibly incorrect unit of measurement was used, with centimeter (cm) being the correct). Ducke (1910) complements the description of Schulz (1903), stating that the nest is composed of four overlapping combs, joined by a central pedicel, with a simple and very resistant envelope, and with transverse streaked with light and dark colors.

Comparative comments.

Angiopolybia paraensis resembles A. obidensis , but it is distinguished by the pronotum with low lamella in the anterior margin (one fifth of the height of antennal socket), being high lamella (one third of the height of antennal socket) in A. obidensis ; pronotum with a slight prominence in front of the fovea, but prominence absent in A. obidensis ; gena not enlarged in the upper region, but enlarged in the upper region in A. obidensis ; parameral spine curved upwards, but straight parameral spine in A. obidensis ; aedeagus with the apex of the lateral apodeme dorsoventrally flattened, but apex not flattened in A. obidensis .

Additional comments.

Angiopolybia paraensis was described by Spinola (1851) and his type specimen (or specimens) was deposited in the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali di Torino (MRSN, Torino, Italy). Richards (1978) did not find any A. paraensis type specimen during his study about the social wasps of the Americas, and we did not receive any answer from the Museum about the type specimen. Additionally, on the online page Checklist of Epiponini wasps (http://iunh2.sci.ibaraki.ac.jp/wasp/Epiponini/epiponini.htm; consulted in 2021) produced by Dr. James M. Carpenter, the presence of the type specimen in the Museum’s collection is also uncertain. Based on this, the redescription of the species was carried out using a specimen identified by Ducke in 1909 and from the same locality of the type specimen (Brazil, Pará, 26.9.1901, Ducke / Polybia paraensis Spin. ♀, det. Ducke 1909 / Brazil., Mus.Goeldi., 1910-90. (1 ♀, NHM)). The information about the male specimen described is: BRA, Roraima, Amajarí, Serra do Tepequém, SESC Tepequém. 1-15.iii.2016 / Malaise grande, J.A. Rafael, F.F. Xavier Filho col.

Although some checklists treat A. paraensis as registered for Bahia state [for example, the Checklist of Epiponini wasps produced by Dr. James M. Carpenter (http://iunh2.sci.ibaraki.ac.jp/wasp/Epiponini/epiponini.htm; consulted in 2021) and Barbosa et al. (2016)], we did not confirm this information.

Type specimen.

Without information.

Additional material examined.

We examined 79 females and six males for A. paraensis ; see supplementary material S1.

Geographic distribution.

Bolivia: Cochabamba, La Paz; Brazil: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima; Colombia: Amazonas, Caquetá; Ecuador; French Guiana; Guyana; Peru: Cuzco, Huánuco, Junín, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Pasco, San Martin; Panama; Suriname; Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolívar (Fig. 10d ).

Figures

Figure 5. Female of Angiopolybia paraensis (Spinola, 1951) used in the redescription of the species: a. lateral view, b. dorsal view, c. head in frontal view. Male: d. head in frontal view, e. lateral view, f. dorsal view. Scale: 1 mm.

Figure 6. Male genitalia of three Angiopolybia species. Angiopolybia pallens: a. paramere, b. aedeagus in left lateral view, c. aedeagus in ventral view, d. digitus, e. cuspis (image mirrored). Angiopolybia obidensis: f. paramere, g. aedeagus in left lateral view, h. aedeagus in ventral view, i. digitus, j. cuspis. Angiopolybia paraensis: k. paramere, l. aedeagus in left lateral view, m. aedeagus in ventral view, n. digitus, o. cuspis. Scale: 0.5 mm.

Figure 7. Morphological variation of Angiopolybia species. Angiopolybia pallens: a. Cayenne, French Guiana; b. Amazonas, Brazil; c. Bahia, Brazil; d. Sao Paulo, Brazil; e. Loreto, Peru; f. Napo, Ecuador; g. Chapare, Bolivia. Angiopolybia zischkai: h. Pipeline, Panama. Angiopolybia obidensis: i. Roraima, Brazil. Angiopolybia paraensis: j. Roraima (brown and yellow specimen), Brazil; k. Napo, Ecuador (brown specimen); l. Crique Alama, French Guiana (dark brown specimen). Scale: 1 mm.

Figure 10. Map of South and Central America showing the geographic distribution of Angiopolybia species: a. Angiopolybia pallens, b. Angiopolybia zischkai, c. Angiopolybia obidensis, and d. Angiopolybia paraensis.