List of Species of Social Wasps from Brazil

Polybia erythrothorax (Hymenoptera: Vespidae): first record of occurrence in the Cerrado biome of northeastern Brazil

“…The diversity and architecture of the vegetation in this type of phytophysiognomy may contribute to the nesting and foraging of this species. This wasp has been reported in the central-west, north (Pará) and southeast (Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) regions (Souza et al, 2020b;Somavilla et al, 2021) and in the Cerrado of the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso (Diniz and Kitayama, 1994;Raw, 2016;Castro et al, 2021), Brazil. The collection methods may have contributed to record this wasp in the western region of Bahia, as it was collected by active search for nests in Mato Grosso, Brazil (Diniz and Kitayama, 1994), by active search in the state of Goiás (Raw, 2016), and in an agriculture environment in the state of Minas Gerais (Jacques et al, 2015), Brazil.…”

“…Species of the genus Polybia are social wasps of the tribe Epiponini, subfamily Polistinae, widely distributed, with twenty-seven of them in the Cerrado biome (Souza et al, 2020a) from a total of fifty-one in Brazil (Somavilla et al, 2021). The neotropical social wasp, Polybia erythrothorax Richards, 1978 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), has been recorded in Cerrado areas in the states of Goiás and Mato Grosso, eastern Brazil (Diniz and Kitayama, 1994;Raw, 2016;Souza et al, 2020a), and in the Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states, Brazil (Souza et al, 2020b).…”

A checklist of social wasps (Vespidae: Polistinae) from Tocantins state, Brazil

“…However, as seen in Tocantins, until recently Piauí has not been the target of taxonomic studies involving social wasps. In contrast, Pará has one of the highest number of species of social wasps, with 190 species recorded (Somavilla et al, 2021a), followed by Mato Grosso with 137 species (Somavilla et al, 2021a). Both states have undergone comprehensive systematic studies over recent decades (Richards, 1978, Silveira, 2002Silva & Silveira, 2009).…”

“…Both states have undergone comprehensive systematic studies over recent decades (Richards, 1978, Silveira, 2002Silva & Silveira, 2009). The richness of the other border states is relatively close to that of Tocantins -Bahia, with 86 species (Santos et al, 2020), Maranhão, with 77 (Silva et al, 2011;Santos et al, 2020), and Goiás, with 74 (Somavilla et al, 2021a). The states of Maranhão and Mato Grosso have the closest phytophysiognomies to that found in Tocantins, presenting fragments of Cerrado and Amazon within their territories and well-defined transition areas.…”

“…Brazil shelters the greatest richness of Polistinae worldwide, with 381 species recorded so far (Somavilla et al, 2021a;Hermes et al, 2022). Considering the richness and distribution of social wasps in other bordering states, like Pará, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, and Goiás (Santos et al, 2020;Somavilla et al, 2021a), these data are notoriously underestimated and show the lack of information about the richness of this taxon in Tocantins. Thereby, our goal was to perform a pioneer systematic work and present an update about the geographic records of the social wasp fauna in Tocantins.…”