Vespa flavitarsus Sonan 1929

Kojima, Jun-Ichi, Saito, Fuki & Nguyen, Lien Thi Phuong, 2011, On the species-group taxa of Taiwanese social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) described and / or treated by J. Sonan, Zootaxa 2920, pp. 42-64 : 55

Vespa flavitarsus Sonan 1929 [ Vespa velutina Lepeletier 1836 ]

Type material. Sonan (1929) described this nominal taxon with the designation of the queen with collection data “Taiko-san (Kagi), 4–10.II.1924 (Coll. M. Kato)” as the HOLOTYPE. The holotype is in TARI and has labels of “Mt. Taiko, Ka- / gi Gun 3350 ft / Feb. 4–10 -1924 / Col. M. Kato”, Type label, “ Vespa Ƥ / flavitarsus Sonan /det. J. Sonan”, and “160”. Sonan (1929: 143) listed the following specimens designated as PARATYPES; we located in TARI those that are marked with asterisks and those for which different number of specimen(s) and/or caste are given in brackets: 1 queen * & 1 worker *, Arisan, 2–23.X.1918 (J. Sonan, M. Yoshino); 1 worker [1 queen *], Arisan, 3.V.1917 (T. Shiraki, J. Sonan); 3 workers *, Arisan, 10.X.1912 (I Nitobe); 3 queens [2 workers *], Funkiko (Arisan, 4600ft.), 16.X.1926 (J. Sonan); 1 worker *, Horisha, V–VIII.1918 (Coll. H. Kawamura); 1 worker *, Kayabara, 4.IX.1923 (T. Shiraki, J. Sonan); 2 queens [2 workers *], Karenko, 20.VII–4.VIII.1919 (T. Okuni, J. Sonan, K. Miyake, M. Yoshino); 2 workers *, Kobayashi (Rato), 29.viii.1923 (T. Shiraki, J. Sonan); 1 worker, Kusukusu, 20.IV.1928 (J. Sonan); 3 workers [1 worker *], Musha, 18.V–15.VI.1919 (T. Okuni, J. Sonan, K. Miyake, M. Yoshino); 1 worker *, Rikiriki, 23.III.1924 (N. Takeda); 1 worker *, Rimogan, 8.XI.1928 (J. Sonan); 1 worker, Raisha, 30.VIII.1927 (J. Sonan, K. Shibata); 1 worker [2 workers *], Shinchiku, 1–30.VIII.1918 (J. Sonan, K. Miyake); 1 worker *, Shinten, 2.VI.1928 (J. Sonan); 1 worker, Shinsuiei, 17.III.1926 (S. Issiki); 1 queen, Taihoku, 30.IV.1919 (I. Nitobe); 1 worker *, Taipin, 12.IX.1910 (T. Shiraki); 2 queens, Takezaki, 15.IX.1926 (J. Sonan); 2 workers * & 1 queen *, Taito, 25.II–25.III.1919 (S. Inamura, J. Sonan, M. Yoshino); 3 workers [1 worker *], Tamaru, 1.IX.1923 (T. Shiraki, J. Sonan); 4 workers *, Tabo, 23.VIII.1923 (T. Shiraki, J. Sonan).

Van der Vecht (1959: 230) treated this nominal taxon as a subspecies of V. velutina , and Starr (1992: 106) synonymized it under V. velutia by giving “ Vespa flavitarsus Sonan 1929: 142 –143 [holotype worker examined]” in the synonym list of V. velutina .