Neotropical swarm-founding wasps are divided into 19 genera in the tribe Epiponini (Vespidae, Polistinae). They display extensive variation in several colony-level traits that make them an attractive model system for reconstructing the evolution of social phenotypes, including caste dimorphism and nest architecture. Epiponini has been upheld as a solid monophyletic group in most phylogenetic analyses carried out so far, supported by molecular, morphological and behavioural data. Recent molecular studies, however, propose different relationships among the genera of swarm-founding wasps. This study is based on the most comprehensive epiponine sampling so far and was analyzed by combining morphological, nesting and molecular data. The resulting phylogenetic hypothesis shows many of the traditional clades but still impacts the way certain behavioural characters, such as nest structure and castes, evolved, and thus requires some re-interpretations. Angiopolybia as sister to the remaining Epiponini implies that nest envelopes and a casteless system are plesiomorphic in the tribe. Molecular dating points to an early tribal diversification during the Eocene (c. 55-38 Ma), with the major differentiation of current genera concentrated in the Oligocene/Miocene boundary.

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Landscape structure and crop management directly affect insect communities, which can influence agriculturally relevant ecosystem services and disservices. However, little is known about the effect of landscape structure and local factors on pests, natural enemies, and biological control services in the Neotropics. We investigated how environmental conditions at local and landscape levels affect Leucoptera coffeella (insect pest), social wasps (natural enemies), and the provision of biological control services in 16 Brazilian coffee plantations under different crop management and landscape contexts. We considered microclimatic conditions, coffee plantation size, and management intensity at the local level; and forest cover, landscape diversity, and edge density at the landscape level. Pest population, wasp communities, and biocontrol services were monitored in wet and dry seasons when L. coffeella outbreaks occur. We found that the amount of forest in the surrounding landscape was more important for explaining patterns than the local environment, landscape diversity, or landscape configuration. In both seasons, L. coffeella was negatively affected by forest cover, whereas biological control and richness and abundance of social wasps increased with increasing forest cover at multiple spatial scales. Moreover, biological control was positively correlated with wasp abundance during pest outbreaks, suggesting that social wasps are important natural enemies and provide pest control services within coffee plantations. We provide the first empirical evidence that forest cover is important for the maintenance of social wasp diversity and associated pest control services in a Brazilian coffee-producing region.

Cerrado is one of the richest biomes in the world but it is still very threatened by human actions that affect not only the flora, but also the fauna, and certainly the largest known group, the insects. We present here a list of species of Polistinae and Eumeninae wasps, based on three different methodologies in a fragment of Cerrado “campo sujo”, very affected by livestock raising, in Paranaíba, State of Mato Grosso do Sul. We recorded 22 species of Polistinae within 8 genera, with Polybia and Agelaia as the most representative. For Eumeninae, 21 species within 10 genera were recorded, with Montezumia and Pachodynerus as the most representative. Furthermore, this work shows the first records of Eumeninae in Mato Grosso do Sul and some new of Polistinae, compared to the literature.

The genera Pachymenes de Saussure and Santamenes Giordani Soika are revised and the phylogenetic relationships among their species, based on external morphology and male genitalia, are presented. The cladistics analysis, using 22 terminal species (19 ingroup and 3 outgroup species) and 44 characters, produced a single cladogram under implied weighting. Both genera were recovered as paraphyletic, althought two major clades were formed and were well supported by the re-sampling analysis. We propose the synonymy of Pachymenes with Santamenes, and the description of two new species: P. saussurei Grandinete n.sp. and P. riograndensis Grandinete n.sp.. New combinations are: Pachymenes novarae (de Saussure) n.comb., P. olympicus (Zavattari) n.comb., P. peregrinus (Zavattari) n.comb. and P. santanna (de Saussure) revised combination. We state the synonymy of P. obscurus orellanoides under P. obscurus consuetus, reviewing the status of the latter and raising P. consuetus to species level. Pachymenes orellanae vardyi is synonymized under P. orellanae; P. ghilianii olivaceus, P. ghilianii flavissimus and P. peruanus are proposed as synonyms of P. ghilianii; P. picturatus obscuratus is synonymized under P. laeviventris; P. picturatus nigromaculatus and P. picturatus var. intermedia are synonymized under P. picturatus and P. atra var. ornatissima get its lectotype designated and proposed as synonym of P. ater.This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid: zoobank.org:pub:F1625D4F-B9D0-426D-9140-97E53A531F87.