Mischocyttarus camanducaia, Silveira, 2019

Silveira, Orlando Tobias, 2019, Taxonomic notes on social wasps of the groups of Mischocyttarus wagneri (Buysson 1908) and M. barbatus Richards 1945 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae), Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 63 (1), pp. 53-72 : 61-63

Mischocyttarus camanducaia sp. nov.

( Figs. 15d ; 21; 22 ; 35 )

Holotype: female, Brazil, Minas Gerais, Camanducaia, Monte Verde , 24/xi/2013 ( MPEG) Souza, M.M. & Albuquerque, C. ( MPEG).

Mischocyttarus wagneri : Souza et al. (2015: 176); misidentification.

Female

Length of fore wing 10–10.5 mm; clypeus distinctly wider than high, H/WCLP 0.89, apex narrowly truncate ( Fig. 35 ), clypeus not so extensively in contact with eye, free upper part of lateral margin relatively long, about 0.35 times the clypeus height at middle; malar space narrow; tentorial pit almost as close to eye margin than to antennal socket; oceli as in a nearly equilateral triangle; occiput rounded, carina absent; gena a little narrower than the upper lobe of the eye; pronotum with lateral fovea, central part of the anterior margin of pronotum with the lamella wide and rather raised but not reflexed, region immediately behind produced into a secondary margin which is acute and projecting over the lamella; humeral angle poorly developed, total humeral width nearly equal to that of mesoscutum, sides of the pronotum as seen from above distinctly converging; pronotal carina completely absent at center, poorly salient at sides, not forming true lobes and not at all reflexed, with a very narrow translucent lamellar portion at the extremity, mesoscutum about as long as wide, L/WMS around 1.0, lateral margin adjacent to tegula well demarcated and prominent; fore wing relatively more elongate for this group, LDIS/HMP about 2.50 (see Fig. 44 ); basal inner (posterior side) margin of fore coxa raised and strongly reflexed; inner claw of hind tarsus with the apex narrowly pointed, but not acute; propodeal dorsal cavity shorter and deep, triangular in shape, propodeal valve relatively narrow, shaped as a high triangle, lamellar margin behind distinctly oblique; first segment of metasoma only moderately elongate, its length hardly larger than 1.30× height of mesopleuron, and about 3.30× width at apex, about 2.20× wider at apex than at base, spiracles scarcely prominent.

Sculpture: head and mesosoma with rather fine sculpture of granulated aspect; clypeus with minute dense punctation (diameter ca. 0.015 mm), with moderately shining interstices measuring about one puncture diameter, and also with shallow sparser larger punctures (diameter 0.030 –0.037 mm), apical central area very finely reticulate, appearing almost smooth, shining, with a few interspersed large shallow punctures (diameter 0.037–0.44 mm); frons with similarly sized punctures, but deeper and a little more dense; mesopleuron with pattern similar to clypeus, but with the small-sized punctures a little closer; humeral area of pronotum with slightly larger and denser punctures (diameter ca 0.022 mm); mesoscutum with punctures slightly larger and less dense, diameter 0.022 –0.030 mm, interstices mostly of 0.5 puncture diameter); propodeum with punctures a little larger and sparser.

Vestiture: eyes bare; most body parts covered by fine appressed shining pubescence, not so dense to the point of obscuring the pattern of micropunctures underneath; clypeus with sparser erect longer setae especially near apical margin, shorter erect setae also on frons and vertex, setae on pronotum and mesoscutum erect and outstanding; gena beneath with distinctly longer hairs; propodeum dorsolaterally with very long fine hairs with recurved tip.

Color (see Figs. 21; 22 ; 35 ): Black on most parts, relatively few areas reddish brown on sides of head, mesosoma and some of metasomal terga and sterna; mandibles reddish, with yellow area near apical teeth and a variably large proximal mark; clypeus reddish to darker brown, except for yellow ventral area close to apical margin (sometimes whole clypeus dark brown); antennal segments 1–2 beneath black; antennal flagellum beneath (or only articles 8–12) reddish; part of subspherical radicle of antennal scape and part of dorsal margin of antennal socket yellow to yellowish brown; diffuse marks on proximal half of femora (gradually connecting to distal yellow counterparts), reddish brown; mid and hind tibiae ventrolaterally light yellowish brown gradually changing to a subapical yellow mark (dorsal surface darker brown), hind tibia distal pad light orange brown; inner orbits to vertex, fusing with the postocellary marks (these sometimes as separate spots), malar space and genal stripe (sometimes interrupted or absent below), mark on pronotum tubercle (sometimes indistinct), pronotal carina and hind margin of pronotum, discal stripes on mesoscutum, part of axillae, anterior transversal stripe on scutellum (sometimes absent), side plates and anterior margin of metanotum; valves (sometimes dark) and two elongate spots on propodeum, large scrobal spot, rather large spot on upper metapleural plate, large posterior area and margin of mesosternum and hind margin of metasternum (in both cases extending to coxal articulation), large spot on apex of fore coxa (almost the distal half), large ventral mark and one dorsolateral stripe on mid coxa, two stripes on hind coxa, distal margin of all trochanters, triple pattern of distal longitudinal marks on fore femur (sometimes obscured), double pattern of distal longitudinal marks on mid and hind femora, narrow posterior distal bands on gastral terga 1–2 (or -3) extending forward at sides, but sometimes indistinct; rather wide areas near distal margin of sterna 2–4 (or -5), yellow; also yellow is most of fore tibia (except for an anterior dorsal dark mark) and all of fore tarsus including claws; mid and hind tarsi with articles 1–4 largely yellowish (only tarsomere 5 entirely dark brown or black); tegula brown with a small posterior yellow spot (sometimes absent); wings hyaline, venation brown.

Male Unknown.

Variation

The three known specimens come from just two localities distant by mere 160 km, and are remarkably uniform in color and form, while being reasonably distinct from other species in this group.

Nest Unknown.

Distribution Brazil: Minas Gerais ( Fig. 47 ).

Etymology

The specific epithet is a reference to the type locality “Camanducaia”, a name originating in the indigenous “Tupi” language.

Remarks

In spite of the yet low number of specimens available, this species seems now so markedly distinct, and clearly deserving of the status of species.

Examined material (paratypes): Brazil. Minas Gerais: Camanducaia, Monte Verde , 1 female 24/xi/2013 ( MPEG) Souza M.M. & Albuquerque C.; Parque Estadual da Serra do Papagaio , 1 female 25/vii/2013, Milani L. ( MPEG) .

Figures

Figs. 5–18. 5–7: frontal–dorsal view of anterior face of pronotum showing secondary margin (arrow) in M. barbatus (5), M.mixtus (6), M. wagneri (7); 8–10: same structures and species in dorsal view; 11–12: mesial view of fore coxa showing raised basal margin (arrow) in M. mixtus (11), M wagneri (12); 13–14: inner (larger) hind tarsal claw (arrow) in M. mixtus (13, lateral) and M. barbatus (14, ventral); 15: hind tarsus of M. wagneri (a), M. mourei (b), M. proximus (c), M. camanducaia sp. nov. (d), M. declaratus (e); 16–18: nests of M. proximus (16), M. wagneri (17), M. barbatus (18); all scales = 0.50mm, except in Fig.18 (= 10 mm); groups of figs. (5–7), (8–10), (11–12), (13–14) share the same scale.

Figs. 19–26. General dorsal and lateral body views (females; all from Brazil).19–20: M.wagneri (RS, Sta. Cruz do Sul; MPEG);21–22: M.camanducaia sp. nov.(holotype:MG, Camanducaia; MPEG); 23–24: M. proximus (SP, Campos do Jordão; MPEG); 25–26: M. declaratus (MG, Barroso; MPEG); all scales = 1.0mm.

Figs. 35–43. 35–38: frontal view of female head (35: M. camanducaia sp. nov., holotype, Brazil, MG, Camanducaia, MPEG; 36: M. declaratus, MG, Barroso, MPEG; 37: M. imeldai, holotype, Peru, IOC; 38: M. imeldai, Bolivia, NHM); 39 and 42: general lateral body view of males (39: M. proximus, SP, Campos do Jordão, MPEG; 42: M. declaratus, MG, Barroso, MPEG); 40–41: male M. imeldai (Peru, NHM) showing mandibles, clypeus and lower face (40) and antennal flagellum (41); 43: anterior-ventral view of face of male M. declaratus (MG, Barroso; MPEG); all scales = 0.50mm, except Figs.39 and 42 (= 1.0mm); scales in figs. (37–38), (40) are estimates.

Fig. 44. Scattergram of ratio variables for species of the group of M. wagneri: x axis – LSI HMP (length of first metasomal segment over height of mesopleuron); y axis – LDIS HMP (length of fore wing discal cell over height of mesopleuron); open squares: M. wagneri; pink filled squares: M. mourei; black asterisks: M. proximus; blue filled triangles: M. camanducaia sp. nov.; black filled diamonds: M. declaratus.

Fig. 47. Map detail of southeastern South America (with partial view of some Brazilian states) with species distributions for the M. wagneri group. MG: Minas Gerais, RJ:Rio de Janeiro, SP: São Paulo, PR:Paraná, SC: Santa Catarina, RS: Rio Grande do Sul.