Agelaia bequaerti

Andena, Sergio R., Noll, Fernando B., Daza, Mario N. & Carpenter, James M., 2024, The phylogeny of the species of the genus Agelaia Lepeletier, 1836, one of the basalmost groups of Epiponini, with notes on male genitalia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae), American Museum Novitates 2024 (4009), pp. 1-48 : 19-21

THE BEQUAERTI GROUP

The species of this clade have been subject to taxonomic issues, however, despite their sharing these features with other species of Agelaia , the clade is supported by lateral margin of clypeus sinuous (char. 3:1), pronotal fovea in a shallow concavity (char. 26:1), and carina of the pronotal tubercle not covering the length of the entire tubercle (char. 33:1).

Richards (1978: 253) stated:

the species allied to S. multipicta and S. pallipes are very difficult to classify. The allies of the first tend to have gastral tergite I wider and more angled at the sides, and the gaster is always more or less distinctly banded with yellow. The allies of the second species tend to have gastral tergite I narrower with the sides more diverging in a straight line from base to apex and the gaster is not banded but with the sides more diverging in a straight line from base to apex and gaster is not banded but with whole segments black, brown or yellowish.

In our cladogram ( fig. 6) the multipicta group was separated into two groups, A. pallipes and allies and A. multipicta and its allies, similar to what Richards (1978: 253) proposed, however, the features cited by Richards do not support his groups. All the characters related to tergum I are shared by both groups: tergum flat from medial to posterior region (char. 63:1) and tergum I after spiracles rounded (char. 64:1). The pallipes clade shares with A. myrmecophila the lateral margin of the pronotum rounded (char. 30:1), while the multipicta clade is supported by the top of the gena slightly narrower than the medial region (char. 17:1). Here we have also to consider that A. bequaerti as well as A. anceps were considered varieties of A. multipicta multipicta respectively (see below) by Richards (1978). In figure 6, A. bequaerti is the basalmost species not included in either group cited above, although A. anceps is within the pallipes group. Both species differ from A. multipicta in having pubescence on gena present (char. 15:0) and bristles on pronotum long and dense (char. 31:0). Agelaia anceps differs from A. multipicta and A. bequaerti in characters related with forecoxae (chars. 51 and 52; see also below).

Agelaia bequaerti was a variety of A. pallipes ( Richards and Richards, 1951) , which was later synonymized with A. multipicta ( Richards, 1978: 254) . In 1978, Richards, divided A. multipicta into two subspecies, one of which, A. multipicta fulvanceps , was synonymized with A. centralis by Carpenter (1999). Garcete-Barrett (1999) raised A. bequaerti to specific rank. Cooper (2000: 195) disagreed with Garcete-Barrett (1999) and synonymized A. bequaerti with A. centralis , citing differences in color, but “in structure typical A. centralis is like A. bequaerti . ”

Based on specimens we have seen, we raise, again, A. bequaerti to specific rank based on the following features: punctation on clypeus all over (char. 6:0), malar space wide (char. 13:1), width of gena more than medial region of the eyes (char. 14:1), pubescence on bottom of gena present (char. 15:0), upper region of gena narrower than medial region (char. 17:0), ocelli at the same declivity of vertex (char. 20:0), bristles on pronotum long and dense (char. 31:0), humeri less projected (char. 32:0), tergum I concave (char. 63:0), tergum II diverging abruptly posteriorly (char. 66:1), and tergum II subparallel (char. 67:1) for A. bequaerti vs. punctation on clypeus only on first third (char. 6:1), malar space narrow (char. 13:0), width of gena less than medial region of the eyes (char. 14:0), pubescence on bottom of gena absent (char. 15:1), upper region of gena equal to medial region (char. 17:1), ocelli anterior to the declivity of vertex (char. 20:2), bristles on pronotum short and scattered (char. 31:1), humeri more projected (char. 32:1), tergum I almost flat (char. 63:1), tergum II diverging gradually posteriorly (char. 66:0), and tergum II more rounded (char. 67:1) in A. centralis .

Most of the features shared by Agelaia pallidiventris + A. myrmecophila are related to the pronotum, in which the pronotal fovea is circular (char. 25:1) in a wide concavity (char. 26:0) and the carina of the pronotal tubercle anterior (char. 34:0). Cooper (2000: 195) also pointed out that the nest of A. pallidiventris is like that of A. myrmecophila , within the carton nest of an ant.

Finally, A. melanopyga + A. anceps share the carina of the pronotal tubercle straight (char. 35:0), the external margin of forecoxae rounded (char. 51:1), and anteromedial region slightly projecting (char. 52:1). As pointed out by Cooper (2000) A. melanopyga shares the same distinctive livery with A. pallipes , but their distributions do not overlap.

Richards (1978: 235) saw the holotype of obscura Araujo, as well as specimens collected in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which he placed as a small, dark form of Stelopolybia multipicta . The species shows ground color black with not very extensive yellow markings on the head and thorax (= mesosoma), a yellow-banded gaster and legs, which are mainly yellowish brown to darker ( Richards, 1978: 235). As also pointed out by Richards (1978) the “morph ” anceps has much more conspicuous bands on the sternites than on the tergites. Cooper (2000) also cited variation on the color of the form of anceps , with some species intermediate with the typical form. Besides coloration, other features might be considered polymorphic in relation to A. multipicta , such as: bristles on the first third on clypeus absent (char. 7:0), gena less than medial region (char. 14:0), pubescence on inferior region of gena absent (char. 15:0), upper region of gena narrower than media region (char. 17:0), lateral margin of pronotum subparallel (char. 30:1), bristles on pronotum long (char. 31:0), humeri rounded (char. 32:0), external margin of forecoxae nearly straight (char. 51:1), anterolateral region of forecoxae projected (char. 52:1), forecoxae compressed in lateral view (char. 53:1), and tergum II subparallel (char. 67:0). Based on these characters we also raise A. anceps as species.

Most clades in this work are supported by homoplasies, but on the other hand, analysis of the data matrix resulted in a single tree. We must consider that most males and nests are unknown for this genus and might improve the optimization of some characters. Even lacking these unknown data our phylogeny shows a clear resolution of all species of Agelaia and certainly will contribute to knowledge of the Epiponini tribe.