Most studies about the insect community in rainforests only focus on the forest understory, and even though the rainforest canopy is one of the most fascinating and diverse environments, it remains poorly explored. Therefore, we analyzed the difference between the social wasp composition in these two strata at the ZF-2 Station in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest, using flight interception traps (Malaise model Gressi and Gressi), in the rainforest understory and canopy. We collected ninety-two species belonging to 18 genera; Polybia was the richest genera (22 species), followed by Mischocyttarus (14) and Agelaia (13). Forty-four species were exclusively collected in the understory, twenty exclusively collected in the canopy, and twenty-eight in both strata. The understory was distinctly more diverse and more abundant than the canopy, while some rare or poorly collected species were only found in the canopy. We found a strong relationship between the species composition at the ZF-2 Station and the Ducke Reserve. Therefore, we suggest using traps in canopy in the Amazon biome as an effective method for collecting a higher diversity of social wasps.
The thematic network ‘Biodiversity of Insects in the Amazon’ is the first network among researchers of the Brazilian Amazon in terms of the increase of knowledge and provision of subsidies for the conservation of Amazonian biodiversity, focusing on insects, and disseminate this knowledge to different sectors of society. In this way, expeditions to six localities in the Amazonas State were carried out and we present here the results for social wasps (Vespidae: Polistinae). We used two modified Malaise traps combined with two suspended traps from July 2016 to June 2017. A total of 140 species and 20 genera were collected: 92 species and 18 genera in ZF-2-Manaus area, where the greatest diversity was recorded, followed by Tefé (73 species, 16 genera), Careiro-Castanho (72 species, 17 genera), Novo Airão (71 species, 16 genera), Presidente Figueiredo (62 species, 16 genera), and Ipixuna (58 species, 17 genera). Metapolybia rufata Richards, 1978 and Polybia diguetana du Buysson, 1905 were new records for Brazil, and other six species were first records for Amazonas state. The results indicate that further investigations should significantly increase the species diversity of wasps in the Amazon region and add more information to the knowledge of Polistinae diversity.
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