Mischocyttarus vaqueroi Zikán, 1949

Silveira, Orlando Tobias, Silva, Suzanna de Sousa & Felizardo, Sherlem Patricia de Seixas, 2015, Notes on social wasps of the group of Mischocyttarus (Omega) punctatus (Ducke), with description of six new species (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae), Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 59 (3), pp. 154-168 : 159-160

Mischocyttarus vaqueroi Zikán, 1949 ( Figs. 11H and 14F )

Mischocyttarus vaqueroi Zikán, 1949: 119 , Figs. 203, 291; Holotype, female, Peru, Pozuzo, Pe. Pascual Vaquero (IOC) [examined]

Mischocyttarus vaqueroi : Richards, 1978: 371; Silveira, 2008: 517.

Mischocyttarus punctatus : Silveira, 2008: 529, 532, 533 (misidentification)

Short redescription. Wing length 7–8.5 mm. Clypeus usually a little higher than wide, ratio H/WCL 1.0–1.09; length of first metasomal segment variable, LSI/HMP 1.42–1.58, with the apex 1.86–2.24 times wider than the basal petiole; sculpture of mesoscutum with ordered aspect, punctures of two very distinct size-classes, the larger ones very distinct measuring ca. 0.06 mm or more, the smaller with 0.02 mm ( Fig. 11H ); frons with puncture diameter variable, small punctures quite visible. Female clypeus with hairs longer in lateral view. Paired oblique yellow streaks above antennal sockets usually wider; clypeus almost always with some kind of dark maculation, often quite extensive; mesosoma often with reddish areas, yellow marks moderately extensive, mark on pronotal carina always well developed, propodeal marks never exceedingly large and lung-shaped, distal yellow band on first metasomal tergum sometimes with lateral forward extension to the spiracle area; metasomal sterna sometimes with discal yellow marks in addition to marginal bands. Male antennal article 13 well elongate, measuring about 0.26 mm, and being ca. 2.7 times longer than broad, ca. 0.7 times as long as article 12+11, these articles proportionally quite elongate, article 12 ca. 1.7 and article 11 ca. 1.4 times as long as broad. Nest comb as a single vertical row of cells, or in several chains, bi- or multifurcated.

Nest. As originally described by Zikán (1949), the nest of M. vaqueroi is a “single row of cells, similar to the nest of M. punctatus ”. Richards, in an unpublished manuscript prepared as a supplement to his 1978 book, mentioned a certain number of colonies collected by M. Cooper in Bolivia (incorrectly cited “ Ecuador ”), with forked nests. The author mentions nests “55” (10 cells, one fork) and “62” (9 cells, one fork) both from Caranavi, near La Paz, and “nest 83” (26 cells, with seven forks) from Beni, Rurrenabaque, adding that “ Mr. Cooper notes that he saw several other forked combs in this locality ” (Rurrenabaque). Nest 83 above was figured in a photograph in Wenzel (1998: 29; Fig. 16B), but only six forks are apparent. A similarly ramified nest was recently collected in Brazil, Pará, Caxiuanã (Silveira & Felizardo colls.; see Fig. 14F ), with six cells, and presenting two forks.

Distribution: Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil: AM, PA.

Remarks. As in the case of the preceding species, Richards (1978: 371) described the male of M. vaqueroi without informing the collection data of the specimen(s). The proportions of the antennal apical articles described here are based on male specimens from Colombia deposited in the London Museum (NHM). A male from Bolivia, Caranavi, had slightly more robust antennal articles 12 and 11 (in photograph), more like M. punctatus . These specimens from Bolivia are associated with ramifying nests, and Richards (unpublished) gave these specimens a manuscript name accompanied by a lengthy description. He diagnosed his new species from M. vaqueroi as follows: “ apart from its nest, in the female by the larger black spot on the clypeus, the more shiny frons, the shorter thoracic hairs, the rather stronger thoracic punctures, and the longer anterior stalk of the gastral petiole. The male differs in the much larger black spot on the clypeus which has a number of large punctures. Punctures more distinct on the thorax. Antennal segment 13 shorter, less curved.”

Consistent morphological or color differences could not be detected between the Bolivian specimens and other M. vaqueroi specimens when considering variations across the entire known range of these very similar forms. The first author (OTS) also did not see any of the forked nests mentioned in Richard’s unpublished manuscript during visits to the London Museum (2010, 2013). One of these nests was figured in Wenzel (1998) showing seven forks, and may indeed be considered suggestive that Bolivian populations are a distinct species. However, the apparent lack of diagnostic morphological characters, allied to the fact that a forked nest we recently found in Caxiuanã ( Fig. 14F ) is associated with quite typical M. vaqueroi specimens, indicate that more information is needed on architectural variation in Bolivian populations.

Examined material. Colombia: Putumayo, Mocoa , 1 female (nest 92), 3 females (nest 93), 15/vi/1974, 1 female, 600 m, 31/v- 7/vi/1976, 5 females, 2 males, 1-10/i/1977, 2 females (note 10), Villa Garzon , 8 mi. S Mocoa, 22/vii/1978 , 4 females, 3 males (nest 39), Alto Afan, 7kn NE Mocoa , 20/iv/1974 ; Vaupés, 1 female (nest 82) Mitu , 19/v/1974, M. Cooper ( NHM) ; Peru: Huánuco, 1 female, Tingo Maria , 10/xi/1980, K.G. Preston Nathan ( NHM) ; Madre de Dios, 6 km NE Mazuko , 13.048 S 70.346 W, 380 m, 18/viii/2012, G. Melo ( UFPR) ; Ecuador: Napo, 1 female, Tena , viii-ix/1924, R. Benoist ( NHM) ; Bolivia: La Paz, 2 females, 2 males (note 83), Caranavi , 600 m, 16/v/1979 ; Beni „ Rurenabaque , 270 m , 1 female, 18/iv/, 1 female, 2 males, 23/iv/1979, M. Cooper ( NHM) ; Brazil: Amazonas , Manaus , 1 female, Campus Universitário , 4/vi/1982, J.A. Rafael ( INPA) , 1 female, 1 km W Tarumã Falls , 100 m, 11/i/1981, G. Ekis ( MPEG) , 3 females, 29/ix/1991, Melo & Garcia, 1 female (with part of nest), Hotel Tropical , 19/vi/2002, G.A. R. Melo ( UFPR) ; Pará , 1 female, Baker collection ( UCDC) , 2 females, Belém , 12/xi/1974 (nest 27), D. Dias ( NHM) ; 3 females, Melgaço, Caxiuanã , ECFPn, 11/iii/2015, Silveira & Felizardo ( MPEG) .

Figures

Fig. 11. (A–H) Partial halves of anterior mesosoma to show pronotal carina and mesoscutal sculpture (scale as in B):(A) Mischocyttarus rodriguesi sp. nov.; (B) M.caxiuana sp. nov.; (C) M. punctatus; (D) M. ryani sp. nov.; (E) M. tayrona sp. nov.; (F) M. anchicaya sp. nov.; (G) M. verissimoi sp. nov.; (H) M. vaqueroi. (I–L) Detail of mesoscutal sculpture (scale bar= 0.1mm): (I) M. anchicaya sp. nov.; (J) M. ryani sp. nov.; (K) M. rodriguesi sp. nov.; (L) M. caxiuana sp. nov. (M–N) Posterior view of head showing pre-foraminal region and occipital carina (scale as in N): (M) M. vaqueroi; (N) M. caxiuana sp. nov.

Fig. 14. (A) Large colony (ca. 40 cm) of Mischocyttarus ryani sp. nov. (Lençóis, BA); (B and C) details of other two colonies of M. ryani sp. nov. showing individuals raising their bodies on mid and hind legs (same place); (D) mature inflorescence of a vine wherein colonies of M. ryani sp. n. were also found (same place); (E) small colony (nest A) with individual female of M. rodriguesi sp. nov., hanging from a Cuscuta trichostyla filiform stem in deep Amazonian rainforest (Caxiuanã, PA); (F) small colony with three females on a forked nest of M. vaqueroi, hanging from a suspense root, in Caxiuanã (PA).