Species Diversity, 1996, 1, 93-97
Pachodynerus nasidens (Latreille) (Hymenoptera, Vespoidea), an Adventive Potter Wasp New to Japan
Seiki Yamane1, Josef Gusenleitner2, and Arnold S. Menke3
1Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, 890 Japan 2PfitznerstraBe 31, A-4020 Linz, Austria iAmmophila Research Institute, 1429 Franklin St., Bisbee, Arizona 85603-6211, USA
(Received 1 June 1996; Accepted 4 December 1996)
The Neotropical eumenine wasp Pachodynerus nasidens is recorded from Japan for the first time. Its recognition characteristics are noted. New records of this species from Micronesia and Polynesis are given and its distribution throughout the western Pacific is mapped and briefly discussed. Key Words: potter wasp, Pachodynerus nasidens. Pacific Islands, human transport.
Introduction
Pachodynerus nasidens (Latreille, 1817) is native to Central and South America including the Antilles (Zavattari 1912; Bequaert 1948). It occurs as far north as Arizona and Texas and it also occurs in Florida, where it may have been introduced. It is also adventive on many islands in the central and western Pacific Ocean (Carpenter 1986; Menke 1986). Recently we had the opportunity to examine a female specimen of this species collected on Naka-iwo-jima, one of the Volcano Islands (Japan) in the northwestern Pacific. Furthermore, we have examined some specimens recently collected from several islands in Micronesia, and Wallis in Polynesia. In this paper we record this species from Japan (Volcano Islands) for the first time and discuss its distribution among the Pacific Islands.
Pachodynerus nasidens (Latreille, 1817)
Odynerus nasidens Latreille [1817]: 112, female. Pachodynerus nasidens (Latreille): Carpenter, 1986: 572-3 (key), 574-5; Menke, 1986: 653 (key), 661-2. For synonyms, see Carpenter (1986) and Menke (1986).
Although this species is well known to New World entomologists, the genus Pachodynerus (Saussure, 1870) is quite unfamiliar to Japanese. The present species somewhat resembles species of the genus Rhynchium (Spinola, 1820) in body shape (Fig. 1); however, there are many structural peculiarities that are not seen in any of the Japanese potter wasps. The body length (head + mesosoma + metasomal terga 1 & 2) is 9.5 mm, and the forewing length 9.5 mm, in the single female specimen from Japan. The main characteristics separating this species from the other Japanese Sk. Yamane, J. Gusenleilner, and A. S. Menke
Fig. 1. Pachodynerus nasidens, female from Naka-iwo-jima, Japan. potter wasps are: 1) ocellar triangle elevated, with a median furrow; 2) pronotal carina lamellate, especially on the sides; 3) humeral carinae present, separating the pronotal dorsum from lateral parts of the pronotum; 4) metanotum with a row of teeth on the posterior edge of the anterior horizontal face; 5) superior ridge of propodeum lamellate, forming a blunt spine at each posterolateral corner; and 6) propodeal valvula with horizontal and vertical wings. In the male the antenna is 12-segmented and the last segment is very short (these are among the most important generic characteristics). In both the sexes, the head and mesosoma are covered with dense golden hairs, which are obliquely erect or appressed to the cuticle. The body is black, with the following parts orange-yellow or orange: a pair of spots near the anterior margin of the clypeus and a pair of small, medio-lateral spots on the clypeus in the female (in the male clypeus is more extensively yellow, with a median black mark of variable shape in the male), a pair of spots just above clypeus and adjacent to the eyes (in the male these marks extend to the lower margins of ocular sinuses as thin lines), a pair of frontal spots, a triangular marking on the mandibular base, a medially and widely interrupted line along the pronotal carina, the posterior margin of pronotal dorsum, the anterior half of the tegula, a transverse line on the metanotum, a line along each superior ridge of the propodeum, apical bands on metasomal terga 2-5 (also 6 in the male), apical bands on sterna 2-5(6), last segment largely, and the anterior faces of all tibiae. Antennal scape below, flagellum and the tarsi of all legs are dark orange or brown. In the males from Micronesia (but not Nauru) the body markings, except those on the metasoma, are paler than in the females. Specimens examined. Ogasawara Is. - Suribachi-yama, Naka-iwo-jima, Volcano Islands, 15 viii 1981, 1 female. Northern Marianas, Micronesia - East I. of Maug Is., 2 vi 1992, 5 males, S. Miyano; Guguan I., 17-18 v 1992, 1 male, S. Miyano; Alamagan I., 19 v 1992, 3 females & 7 males, S. Miyano, and 9 vi 1992, 1 male, S. Miyano; Anatahan I., 11 v 1992, 1 male, S. Miyano; Pagan I., 24 v 1992, 1 male, S. Miyano. Nauru, Micronesia - Meneng, Nauru, 6 xii 1975, 3 males, K. Kusigemati; Buada t
Fig. 2. Distribution records of Pachodynerus nasidens in the South Pacific. The years indicated for each locality are the periods for which collection records are available, la Oahu I., lb Hawaii I., 2a Enewetak Atoll, 2b Kwajalein Atoll. 3 Guam I.. 4, Chuuk (Truk) Is.. 5 Makatea I., 6 Christmas I., 7 Fatu Hiva, HivaOa & Nuku Hiva (Marquesas), 8a Canton Atoll, 8b Hull Atoll, 9 Nauru, 10 Naka-iwo-jima, 11 Wallis, 12 Northern Marianas. Records, except those for the Northern Marianas, Chuuk, Nauru, and Wallis, come from the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. The map is adapted from 'Oceania (Pacific Ocean)' with permission from the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan. 96 Sk. Yamane, J. Gusenleitner, and A. S. Menke
Lagoon, Buada, Nauru, 5 xii 1975, 1 female, K. Kusigemati. Polynesia - Wallis, 25 ii 1986, 1 female & 1 male, Schmid-Egger.
As early as 1957 Giordani Soika mentioned that Pachodynerus nasidens had already been reported on many Pacific islands, but the precise year of its introduc tion in the region is not known. The earliest record from the collection of the National Museum of Natural History is September, 1911, at Oahu, Hawaii. Although Prof. T. Esaki and Prof. K. Yasumatsu did not collect it during their expeditions to Micronesia from 1936 to 1940 (Bequaert and Yasumatsu 1939; Yasumatsu 1945), it was recorded from some islands in the Marshalls, Marianas, and Carolines by Krombein (1949; also see Fig. 2), and is now very common on some islands of the Northern Marianas (Miyano 1994; referred to as Eumenidae gen. sp.). In any case as early as the 1970's this species had been collected from the Marquesas and Tuamotu Islands in the east through Guam (Micronesia) in the west. But, the years in Fig. 2 do not necessarily indicate the precise chronology of introduction. It is not clear how this species could have so quickly spread over this vast area. Both transport by humans (aviation and shipping) and its own dispersal ability may have contributed to the rapid expansion in range. The extreme plasticity in nesting habit (Carpenter 1986) may also have helped the adaptation to new localities. However, unlike some tropicopolitan tramp species of ant (Yamauchi and Ogata 1995), P. nasidens has established itself only on relatively small islands. We have never seen it on very large islands such as Sulawesi, Borneo, and Sumatra.
Acknowledgements
We thank Mr. H. Matsuura (Kobe), Dr. Shin'ya Miyano (Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba), and Prof. Kanetosi Kusigemati (Kagoshima University) for their help in collecting the material. We also thank anonymous reviewers, who much improved an earlier draft of the manuscript.
References
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