The social wasp community (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) in an area of Atlantic Forest, Ubatuba, Brazil

Abstract

The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is of great relevance to biological conservation, and is among the areas in South America with the highest levels of diversity and endemism. The aim of this study was to survey the social wasp species in the subfamily Polistinae in Ubatuba, São Paulo state, in southwestern Brazil. Collecting work was conducted from May 2007 to May 2008 using attractive PET bottle traps and active searching. Twenty-one species belonging to eight genera were found, among which some may be considered rare in southeastern Brazil such as Mischocyttarus parallelogrammus and Polybia catillifex. The most abundant species were Agelaia angulata (64.31%), Agelaia nr. centralis (10.08%) and Angiopolybia pallens (8.49%). A correlation between species richness and relative humidity (r = 0.6435; p = 0.0176) was observed. Values of species richness were a little higher in the super humid (Sm = 11) than in the less humid (Sm = 9) season. This suggests that this season may have more favorable environmental conditions for a greater richness of species to found colonies. Despite not having a very high species richness compared with other surveys, the collected species in this study can be considered rare in southeastern Brazil, emphasizing the complexity of the Atlantic Forest biome and its relation to the diversity of wasps.

The Social Wasp Fauna of a Riparian Forest in Southeastern Brazil (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

“…The baited PET bottle trap method consisted in 10 attractive traps made with 2 L PET type bottles (Polyethylene Terephthalate Bottles) installed along a 1000 meter trail bordered by riparian vegetation and sugarcane plantation. The traps were set on the edge of the vegetation at a height of approximately 1.5 meters (Ribeiro Junior, 2008), with a 100 meters interval between traps (Togni et al, 2014). Each bottle had four circular orifices at the middle, and contained 200 ml of attractive liquid (modified from Souza & Prezoto, 2006) consisting of natural industrialized guava juice and sugar solution (Togni et al, 2014).…”

“…The traps were set on the edge of the vegetation at a height of approximately 1.5 meters (Ribeiro Junior, 2008), with a 100 meters interval between traps (Togni et al, 2014). Each bottle had four circular orifices at the middle, and contained 200 ml of attractive liquid (modified from Souza & Prezoto, 2006) consisting of natural industrialized guava juice and sugar solution (Togni et al, 2014). After a week, traps were removed, the attractive liquid sifted and all social wasps encountered were fixed in 70% ethanol.…”

“…Other studies have also noted the predominance of Epiponini in the total abundance of social wasps found. Representatives of this tribe constituted more than 70% in many studies conducted in Brazil (Santos, 1996;Mechi, 2005 -Campos et al, 2007;Morato et al, 2008;Santos et al, 2009b;Silva & Silveira, 2009;Auad et al, 2010;Alvarenga et al, 2010;Lima et al, 2010;Pereira & Antonialli-Junior, 2011;Tanaka Junior & Noll, 2011;Simões et al, 2012;Grandinete & Noll, 2013;Togni et al, 2014). However, when only nests are the targets of surveys, the abundance of Epiponini is often smaller, as observed in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais (Lima et al, 2000), with only 11.03% of the colonies belonging to this tribe and in Biritinga, Bahia, were 67.43% of the total abundance found was of Epiponini, yet only 25.71% of the nests found belonged to this tribe (Santos & Presley, 2010).…”

“…group of insects, researches related to diversity of social wasps in this country are increasing in number and have covered different regions, environments and biomes (Richards, 1978;Rodrigues & Machado, 1982;Marques, 1989;Marques et al, 1993;Diniz & Kitayama, 1994;Mechi, 1996;Santos, 1996;Lima et al, 2000;Raw, 2003;Marques et al, 2005;Mechi, 2005;Melo et al, 2005;Hermes & Köhler, 2006;Santos et al, 2006;Silva-Pereira & Santos, 2006;Souza & Prezoto, 2006;Elpino-Campos et al, 2007;Santos et al, 2007;Morato et al, 2008;Ribeiro Junior, 2008;Silveira et al, 2008;Souza et al, 2008;Santos et al, 2009a;Santos et al, 2009b;Alvarenga et al, 2010;Auad et al, 2010;Lima et al, 2010;Santos & Presley, 2010;Souza et al, 2010;Pereira & Antonialli-Junior, 2011;Silva et al 2011;Souza et al, 2011;Tanaka Junior & Noll, 2011;Jacques et al, 2012;Silveira et al, 2012;Simões et al, 2012 ;Auko & Silvestre, 2013;Grandinete & Noll, 2013;Togni et al 2014). In the State of S...…”

“…In the State of São Paulo, studies on diversity of social wasps are still scarce, mainly focusing on the Northwestern region, with studies in localities such as Paulo de Faria, Pindorama and Neves Paulista ), Patrocínio Paulista (Lima et al, 2010), Magda, Bebedouro, Matão and Barretos (Tanaka Junior & Noll, 2011); on the Central Eastern region, with researches in Rio Claro (Rodrigues & Machado, 1982), Luíz Antônio, Corumbataí (Mechi, 1996), and Santa Rita do Passa Quatro (Mechi, 2005); and finally at the Littoral in Ubatuba (Togni et al, 2014).…”