The Social Wasps of India and the Adjacent Countries (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

1989 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 389-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bina Pani Das ◽  
Virendra K. Gupta
Keyword(s):  
1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (7) ◽  
pp. 1014-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Schoeters ◽  
J. Billen ◽  
J. O. Schmidt

Spider wasps, i.e., the family Pompilidae, in general, and those belonging to the genus Pepsis in particular, are acknowledged to possess venoms that are algogenic to humans and thus have the parsimonious functions of causing paralysis and providing defense against predators. The morphological organization of the venom system and its complex convoluted gland closely resembles that in social members of the Vespidae. These features distinguish the venom glands of the Pompilidae from those of the sibling family Mutillidae as well as those of the family Sphecidae, which lack convoluted glands. Although the venom glands in Pepsis species are very similar in morphology to those of social vespids, the lethality of Pepsis venom to mammals is several times less than that of the social common wasps. These findings suggest that in terms of the evolution of venom activity and the associated glandular structures, there was apparently no need for social wasps to develop extra parts of the venom system for producing toxic, lethal, or powerful algogenic components. All of the glandular parts of the venom gland of social wasps were already present in pompilids (and eumenids) and, presumably, in their ancestors.


Sociobiology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 225
Author(s):  
Christopher K Starr

The social wasp Polybia quadricincta is observed preying opportunistically on workers of the termite Nasutitermes corniger in Trinidad, West Indies.  Several Polybia spp. and other social wasps are known to prey on winged reproductive, but this appears to be the first report of any preying on workers.


1902 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 163-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
William. H. Ashmead

This family is restricted to the paper-making wasps, all social species living in large communities and having three distinct sexes, female, worker and male, thus agreeing with the social bees, the Apidæ and Bombidæ, and with many ants, Dorylidæ, Myrmicidæ, Formicidæ, etc.In some species, too, like the ants, there appear to be two forms of the worker.Deceived by their habits, for structurally they are widely separated, Westwood and Packard thought the social wasps were allied to the Apidæ, and in their scheme of classification have placed them next to the bees, with which they having nothing in common.


Sociobiology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Somavilla ◽  
Raimundo Nonato Martins de Moraes Junior ◽  
José Albertino Rafael

Most studies about the insect community in rainforests only focus on the forest understory, and even though the rainforest canopy is one of the most fascinating and diverse environments, it remains poorly explored. Therefore, we analyzed the difference between the social wasp composition in these two strata at the ZF-2 Station in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, using flight interception traps (Malaise model Gressi and Gressi), in the rainforest understory and canopy. We collected ninety-two species belonging to 18 genera; Polybia was the richest genera (22 species), followed by Mischocyttarus (14) and Agelaia (13). Forty-four species were exclusively collected in the understory, twenty exclusively collected in the canopy, and twenty-eight in both strata. The understory was distinctly more diverse and more abundant than the canopy, while some rare or poorly collected species were only found in the canopy. We found a strong relationship between the species composition at the ZF-2 Station and the Ducke Reserve. Therefore, we suggest using traps in canopy in the Amazon biome as an effective method for collecting a higher diversity of social wasps.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-187
Author(s):  
Alexandre Somavilla ◽  
Dayse Willkenia Almeida Marques ◽  
Ernesto Augusto Silva Barbosa ◽  
Juarez da Silva Pinto Junior ◽  
Marcio Luiz De Oliveira

As vespas sociais constituem um grupo com elevada riqueza de espécies e muito comum em áreas amazônicas. Apesar disto, nenhum trabalho foi realizado na Amazônia Maranhense e apenas 58 espécies de vespas sociais são registradas para o estado do Maranhão. O presente trabalho apresenta dados faunísticos referentes às vespas sociais da Reserva Biológica do Gurupi, caracterizada por ser uma floresta ombrófila latifoliada amazônica localizada no noroeste do Maranhão. As coletas e instalação de armadilhas (Malaise do tipo Gressitt & Gressitt, armadilha suspensa, armadilha luminosa, armadilha atrativa com isca de fruta) ocorreram entre janeiro de 2010 e maio de 2011, totalizando 63 dias amostrados. Para a Reserva Biológica do Gurupi foram obtidos 384 espécimes de vespas sociais pertencentes a Epiponini e Polistini, alocados em 12 gêneros e 38 espécies. Polybia destacou-se por apresentar o maior número de espécies (14), seguido de Agelaia (seis espécies) e Apoica (quatro espécies). Quatorze espécies são registradas pela primeira vez para o estado do Maranhão, aumentando, desta forma, para 72 espécies com registros confirmados para o estado. Social Wasps (Vespidae: Polistinae) in a Dense Ombrophilous Amazon Forest in the Maranhão State, Brazil Abstract. Social wasps are a high species richness group and very common in Amazonian areas. Despite this, no study have been made in the amazonian forest on the state of Maranhão and only 58 species of social wasps are registered for this state. This paper presents data about the social wasps fauna of Gurupi Biological Reserve, characterized as an ombrophylous broadleaf forest located in the northwest Amazon of Maranhão. The collect and traps installation (Malaise trap, suspended trap, light traps and fruit attractive trap) occurred between January 2010 and May 2011, with a total of 63 sample days. We collected 384 specimens in the Biological Reserve of Gurupi, were obtained social wasps belonging to Epiponini and Polistini, allocated to 12 genera and 38 species. Polybia have the largest number of species (14), followed by Agelaia (six species) and Apoica (four species). Fourteen species are first records for the state of Maranhão, increasing, thus, for 72 species with confirmed records occurrence to Maranhão.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-59
Author(s):  
Bruno Corrêa Barbosa ◽  
Tatiane Tagliatti Marciel ◽  
Fábio Prezoto

Abstract: In this study, the social wasps Mischocyttarus rotundicollis (Cameron)and Polybia bistriata (Fabricius) were recorded for the first time in Alagoas state, including a brief description of the species.Novos registros de vespas sociais (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae) no estado de Alagoas, Brasil Resumo: Neste estudo, foram registradas as vespas sociais Mischocyttarus rotundicollis (Cameron) e Polybia bistriata (Fabricius) pela primeira vez no estado de Alagoas e foi incluída uma breve descrição de espécies.


Check List ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1530 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Carneiro Melo ◽  
Bruno Corrêa Barbosa ◽  
Mariana Monteiro de Castro ◽  
Gilberto Marcos de Mendonça Santos ◽  
Fábio Prezoto

Social wasps are broadly distributed in Brazil, and their distribution is closely related to local plant composition. However, only a few studies on the diversity of these insects have been carried out in northeastern Brazil, and in Caatinga Biome the diversity is probably underestimated due to the lack of inventories for the region. Aiming at advancing the knowledge about the wasp fauna, we carried out this study from October 2005 to September 2006 in Ibipeba, northeastern Brazil. We collected 172 wasps of five genera and eight species, and recorded Polybia ruficeps Schrottky, 1902 for the first time in the state of Bahia. The most abundant species was Polybia ignobilis (Haliday, 1836) (n = 69), and the least abundant were Brachygastra lecheguana (Latreille, 1824) (n = 2) and Polistes canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) (n = 2). The present study inventory focused exclusively on the diversity of social wasps in an area of Caatinga, which contributes to advance the local fauna knowledge.


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