Vespa nigrans

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 : 54

Vespa nigrans du Buysson 1903 [ Vespa analis Fabricius 1775 ]

Sonan ( 1929: 141) listed the following specimens: 1 queen and 2 workers, Arisan, 2–23.X. 1918 (J. Sonan, M. Yoshino); 2 workers, Horisha, V–VIII. 1918 (H. Kawamura); 1 worker, Karenkô, 20.VII– 4.VIII. 1919 (T. Okuni, J. Sonan, K. Miyake, M. Yoshino); 1 queen, Musha, 18.V– 15.VI. 1919 (T. Okuni, J. Sonan, K. Miyake, M. Yoshino); 1 worker, Shinchiku, 1–20.VII. 1918 (J. Sonan, K. Miyake); 2 queens and 31 workers, Taihoku, 21.VII. 1925 (J. Sonan); 1 queen, Yûsho (near Piyanan-anbu) ( 6000 ft), 3.XI. 1928 (J. Sonan). We did not examine these specimens, but judging from Sonan's description of body size and marking pattern his specimens could all belong to V. analis . Sonan ( 1929) also referred to the median tooth in the apical emargination of female clypeus, the most pronounced characteristic of Ves pa analis ; but it is notable that Sonan mentioned that some specimens lacked this tooth [it was possibly rudimentary but not completely disappeared]. The size of the median tooth is known to be variable ( Bequaert 1939: 37; van der Vecht 1957: 4), occasionally even “small or rudimentary.”

Starr ( 1992: 103, fig. 16) mentioned that V. analis “is known only from a few medium-elevation localities in the central part of the island [= Taiwan]”, but among the localities recorded by Sonan, “Karenkô”, “Shinchiku” and “Taihoku” are low-elevation localities.