Social wasp richness and species distributions among ecosystem types in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

The state of Minas Gerais has high biodiversity, characterized by strong ecosystem heterogeneity that favors high richness of social wasps. There are currently 109 species known to occur in the state, however, there is lack of information concerning the distribution of these social insects among different ecosystems. The objective of this study was to evaluate social wasp species richness and distributions by ecosystem, thereby generating data for use in discerning relevant and priority environments for vespid conservation in Minas Gerais. We evaluated articles, theses, and dissertations published up to the year 2016 containing data on biodiversity of social wasps in natural and agricultural environments. We found 18 studies, in which the highest reported species richness was in semideciduous seasonal forest (n = 68), followed by Cerrado (n = 53), ombrophilous forest (n = 39), deciduous seasonal forest, and campos rupestres (n = 35). The lowest richness was reported in mixed forest (n = 21) and high-altitude fields (n = 19). Considering the high degree of landscape diversity of the state of Minas Gerais, more studies are needed to accurately assess social wasp diversity in these ecosystems, especially Cerrado. Ombrophilous and deciduous forests should be considered strongly relevant for these social insects, especially the Rio Doce State Park and the Rio Pandeiros Wildlife Refuge.

Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Polistinae) from the Brazilian savanna

“…Polistinae fauna in Cerrado corresponds to 40% of Brazilian richness, data obtained from the sampling effort of 13 studies. It is highlighted that this effort is considerably lower than that for the most well sampled Brazilian biome for social wasps, the Atlantic Forest, as already discussed for Minas Gerais state (Barbosa et al, 2016;Souza et al, 2017), which shows a need for a bigger sampling effort for Cerrado.…”

“…Nevertheless, biogeographic knowledge of social wasps is still fragmented and in need of data like that provided by biodiversity inventories, specially concerning to Cerrado (Souza & Zanuncio, 2012;Barbosa et al, 2016;Souza et al, 2017). To that end, Simões et al (2012) developed an inventory of social wasps from Cerrado in Minas Gerais state, with a great number of species, including those of ample geographic distribution, as well as those of rare occurrence.…”

Nesting Behaviour of a Neotropical Social Wasp Mischocyttarus saussurei Zikán, 1949 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

“…Six colonies were found nesting in rocky substrates and one in vegetal substrate. Every site in which a colony was located was part of either a Conservation Unit or a highly conserved forest area (Souza & Prezoto, 2006;Souza et al, 2017). This may indicate a relationship between the species and this ecological setting, since many species of social wasps are restricted to conserved environments or specific ecosystems (Souza et al, 2017;Detoni et al, 2018), as reported for the genus Pseudopolybia (Souza et al, 2010).…”

“…species ecology (Raposo-Filho & Rodrigues, 1984;Gianotti, 1998;O'Donnell & Joyce, 2001;Silveira, 2008;Barbosa et al, 2016b;Souza et al, 2017;Oliveira et al, 2017). Despite the number of species sampled in diversity studies throughout Brazil (Barbosa et al, 2016), the ecological niches most of them fill are still poorly understood, which includes Mischocyttarus saussurei Zikán, 1949.…”

Social Wasps in Exotic Forest Planting and Atlantic Rainforest in the Neotropical Region

“…The Brazilian fauna is composed of 22 genera of 304 species of registered social wasps, of which 104 occur exclusively in Brazilian territory (Silveira et al, 2016). Three tribes occur in Brazil: Mischocyttarini (Mischocyttarus), known, so new records may contribute to the understanding of species diversity and richness in an area (De Souza et al, 2017;Brügger et al, 2019b;Somavilla et al, 2019).…”