Review of the paper wasps of the Parapolybia indica species-group (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae) in eastern parts of Asia

Abstract

Nine species of the Parapolybia indica species-group in eastern parts of Asia are reviewed. Four new species are described: P. flava sp. nov. (Vietnam), P. crocea sp. nov. (Japan), P. nana sp. nov. (Vietnam), and P. albida sp. nov. (Vietnam). Parapolybia indica (de Saussure, 1854), P. bioculata van der Vecht, 1966 and P. tinctipennis (Cameron, 1900) are redescribed. The status is reinstanted for P. fulvinerva (Cameron, 1900), stat. resurr. and P. tinctipennis (Cameron, 1900), stat. resurr. and new status is proposed for P. bioculata van der Vecht, 1966, stat. nov. Parapolybia tinctipennis (Cameron, 1900) is newly recorded from China, Vietnam and Laos. The key to species is given. The nests of P. indica, P. bioculata, P. tinctipennis, P. flava and P. crocea are remarked.

Online citizen sciences reveal natural enemies and new occurrence data of Meteorus stellatus Fujie, Shimizu & Maeto, 2021 (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Euphorinae)

“…Although preserved specimens were unavailable and these paper wasps sometimes exhibit a wide range of colour variations ( van der Vecht 1966 ), the available characters, based on photographs and movies, matched well with the diagnostic characters for this species listed by Yamane and Wang (1996) and Saito-Morooka et al (2015) .…”

Mitochondrial composition of and diffusion limiting factors of three social wasp genera Polistes, Ropalidia, and Parapolybia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

“…Ropalidia Guérin-Méneville, 1831, the third largest genus with more than 200 species, is distributed in a greater part of the Old World with a tropical or subtropical climate [6,7]. Parapolybia de Saussure, 1854, including 13 species, is a small genus and with a much narrower distribution than Ropalidia [8]. Meanwhile, only these three genera in the subfamily Polistinae are distributed in China, also with obviously different distribution patterns that Polistes is widespread, whereas both Ropalidia and Parapolybia are mostly distributed to south of the Qinling Mountains-Huai River (QH) line (104°15′-120°21′E, 32°05′-34°18′N).…”