Vespa orientalis Linnaeus, 1771

Siddiqui, Junaid Ali, Bodlah, Imran, Carpenter, James M., Naeem, Muhammad, Ahmad, Munir & Bodlah, Muhammad Adnan, 2015, Vespidae (Hymenoptera) of the Pothwar region of Punjab, Pakistan, Zootaxa 3914 (5), pp. 501-524 : 518-519

Vespa orientalis Linnaeus, 1771

( Figs 34 a–b)

Vespa orientalis Linnaeus, 1771: 540 , “Oriente” ( holotype ♀, Linnaean Society, London).

Vespa turcica Drury, 1773: 74 , pl. 39, fig. 1, index, [ Turkey] “Smyrna” (destroyed?).

Vespa quadripunctata Forskål, 1775: 84 , [ Egypt] “ Kahirae ” (Kobenhavn?).

Vespa Crabro fusca Christ, 1791: 216, [ Turkey] “Smirna” (destroyed).

Vespa Aegyptiaca Vallot, 1802: 170 , “ Égypte ” ( type depository unknown).

Vespa Nilotica Vallot, 1802: 170 , “ Égypte ” ( type depository unknown).

Vespa Jurinei de Saussure, 1854: 133, “L’Albanie” ( lectotype ♀ London).

Vespa orientalis var. Zavattarii Guiglia & Capra, 1933: 168, ♀, “Fezzan ... Ubari [ Libya] ... Oued Tizzi ( Algeria)” (Genova).

Vespa orientalis var. somalica Giordani Soika, 1934: 184 , ♀, “ Somalia italiana... di Carim” ( lectotype Venezia).

Vespa orientalis arabica Giordani Soika, 1957: 482 , ♀, ♂, “Western Aden Protectorate: Al Milah, 1600 ft.” ( holotype ♀, London).

Material examined. Rawalpindi, 02.vi.12, 3♀, 07.vi.12, 10♀ and 1♂, 13.ix.12, 1♀, 12.ix.12, 12♀, 16.ix.12, 5♀, 19.xi.12, 10♀, 20.xii.12, 1♀; Islamabad, 19.ix.12, 9♀; Attock, 19.v.12, 2♀, 20.v.12, 5♀, 26.v.12, 4♀, 27.v.12, 8♀, 30.ix.12, 1♀, 29.ix.12, 1♀; Jhelum, 25-ix-12, 9♀, 4♂; Murree, 14.viii.12, 7♀, 3♂; Chakwal, 16.iv.12, 5♀.

Distribution. This species is the most widespread in western Libya, Italy, to eastern Nepal, India and Pakistan (Carpenter & Kojima 1997, Mahmood et al. 2012).

Comments. Collected specimens were compared with Mahmood et al. (2012). This species can be identified on the basis of following characters: first metasomal segment with narrow yellow band at the apex dorsally; third and fourth metasomal segments completely yellow. New locality records have been provided for this species.

Figures

FIGURE 34, Vespa orientalis. a. Metasoma, dorsal view. b. Mesosoma, lateral view.