Apoica (Apoica) thoracica du Buysson

PICKETT, KURT M. & WENZEL, JOHN W., 2007, Revision and Cladistic Analysis of the Nocturnal Social Wasp Genus, Apoica Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae, Epiponini), American Museum Novitates 3562 (1), pp. 1-32 : 26

Apoica (Apoica) thoracica du Buysson

Apoica pallida ; Fox, 1898: 445 [partim].

Apoica pallida var. thoracica du Buysson, 1906: 340 , 343, female—‘‘ Brésil: Espírito Santo’’ (lectotype female, ZMH); also from French Guiana .

Apoica thoracica ; Richards, 1951, in Richards and Richards, 1951: 152.

DISTRIBUTION: Bolivia: Cochabamba , La Paz, Santa Cruz ; Brazil: Acre, Amapá , Amazonas, D. F., Espírito Santo, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais , Pará, Paraná, Rondônia, Roraima, São Paulo ; Colombia: Amazonas, Caquetá, Meta, Putumayo , Valle; Costa Rica; Ecuador: Napo, Pichincha ; French Guiana; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Panama; Peru: Cuzco, Huánuco, Junín, Loreto, Pasco ; Suriname; Venezuela: Amazonas, Barinas, Miranda .

MATERIAL EXAMINED: ECUADOR: Pichincha, n. Nangegal, 19–20.ix.1977 ( BMNH, 1 female); BRAZIL: Mato Grosso, 12d 50m S, 51d 47m W, 19-X-1968, O. W. Richards, nest 1999 Oxf. Univ. Exp ( BMNH, 1 female); Brit. Guiana: Moraballi Creek , 12.ix.1929 ( BMNH, 1 female); PERU: Huanuco, Chinchao, 23.x.1973, J.M. Schunke, s-w of Tingo Maria ( BMNH, B.M. 1974-37, 1 female); COLOMBIA: Putumayo, Mocoa, 24.ix.1974, M. Cooper ( BMNH, B.M. 1975-33, 1 female); ECUADOR, Orinta, Zasayacu, 12.xi.68, L.E. Pena ( BMNH, B.M. 1974-267, 1 female); British Guiana: Essequibo R., Moraballi Creek, 29/ 30.viii.1929, Oxf. Univ. Expedn. ( BMNH, B.M. 1929-485, 1 female); PERU: Oxapampa, 1940, Weyrauch, 1600 m ( BMNH, 1 female); PERU: Chanchamayo, 7.iii.1949, J.M. Schunke ( BMNH, B.M. 1952-645, 1 female); Brazil: Brasilia, Lago Sul, 17.3.1977, A. Raw ( BMNH, 1 female); Costa Rica, Coto Brus, Las Cnjoes, 18 Feb 1996, M. Singer, (pers. coll. J. H. Hunt, 1 female); Costa Rica, Turrialba, Cartago, 9-III-1967 ( BMNH, 2 females); BRASIL, Amazonas, Rio Purus, between Beruri & Ariapua, 21.XI 1971, H. & P. Mass ( RMNH, 2 females); BRASIL: Amazonas, Rio Purus , Tapaua, 21.XI 1971, H. & P. Mass ( BMNH, 1 female) .

Van der Vecht (1972) noted differences in the parameral spine of A. thoracica . The difference, whether ‘‘bent’’ or not, corresponds to true A. thoracica (which is not curved) and A. ambracarina (which is curved). Richards (1978) apparently included A. ambracarina in his concept of A. thoracica (see Pickett [2003]), but he also apparently included certain specimens of A. pallida in his concept of A. thoracica , as did Bequaert (1943; see above). This is evidenced by Richards’ (1978: 262) key, which indicates that A. thoracica is ‘‘sometimes with a pale spot’’ on its metanotum. In reality, A. thoracica is a very dark animal that always lacks any pale coloration on its metanotum, as is always seen in A. pallida . A. thoracica also rarely has any pale coloration on its final metasomal tergum, and when this is present, it is also more faint than in A. pallida and restricted to the posterior tip of the tergum, but not in a Vshape as in A. ambracarina . When these faint pale colors appear in A. thoracica , the animal has a lighter dark brown metasoma and short, sparse eye hairs over the entire surface of the eye; the typical form, which is uniformly dark brown, lacks these pale spots and eye hairs (except perhaps at the genal border).

The confusion surrounding A. thoracica may because it is perhaps the most variable of all Apoica spp. With further study, additional species may be described from within A. thoracica . For example, A. thoracica has a typical form, which is uniformly dark brown to black and lacks eye hairs, and has no metanotal carina. But there are other specimens that have a lighter metasoma and have sparse eye hairs (similar to A. ambracarina ), but lack a metanotal carina; the dorsal half of the terminal metasomal tergum of these specimens is also pale. This variant may be simply a variant, or it may represent a distinct species or the worker caste. Until we have seen entire colonies of this variety, we are not content to describe it as a new species.