Hymenoptera, Vespidae
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Check List 10(1): 10–17, 2014 © 2014 Check List and Authors Chec List ISSN 1809-127X (available at www.checklist.org.br) Journal of species lists and distribution PECIES S OF The Social Wasp Community (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) in Olga Coutinho Togni 1* 1 1 ISTS 2 L anSilveira Area of Atlantic Forest, Ubatuba, Brazil , Gabriela de Almeida Locher , Edilberto Giannotti and Orlando Tobias 1 Universidade Estadual Paulista,[email protected] Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Zoologia, CEP 13506-900, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil. 2 Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Campus de Pesquisas, Departamento de Zoologia, CEP 66040-170, Belém, PA, Brazil. * Corresponding author. E-mail: 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. Introduction 2005; Hermes and Köhler 2006; Santos et al. 2007; Souza et al. 2008; Clemente 2009; Gomes and Noll 2009; Lima et al. 2010; Prezoto and Clemente 2010; Tanaka Junior and Social wasps (Vespidae, Polistinae) are remarkably Noll 2011), and the Amazon Forest (Raw 1998; Silveira abundant in Brazil (Raveret-Richter 2000), acting as 2002; Silveira et al. 2005; Morato et al. 2008; Silveira et al. 1975;predators, Gadagkar nectar 1991; collectors Raw 1997) (Suzuki in the1978; food Carpenter chain. and 2008; Silva and Silveira 2009). Marques 2001; Aguiar and Santos 2007), and prey (Jeanne conservation and rational use (Melo et al. 2005). By Due to the importance and abundance of the taxon, Inventorying an area is the first step towards its studies on the diversity and abundance of social wasps have been conducted across different regions and suchundertaking as colony a survey seasonality, of species foragingof social wasps,activity, several and environments, such as etcultivated al. 1993; fields Santos and 1996; human- Lima aspects of their biology and behavior must be considered, modifiedet al. environments et (Rodriguesal. and Machado 1982; SantosMarques et 1989;al. 2009a; Marques Santos et al. et al. nesting habits. Brazilian rainforests represent a peak of 2010; 2000;Auad etMarques al. 2010; Santos 2005; and RibeiroPresley Junior2010; Souza2008; biodiversity, and inet thisal. 1998), sense, including certain localities in their possessdiversity the of et al. 2011; Tanaka Junior and Noll 2009b; 2011; Alvarenga Locher 2012), greatest abundance and richness of known species on the planet (Machado Brazilian savanna) (Richards 1978; Diniz and Kitayama social wasps (Richards 1978). in areas of “cerrado” (semi-deciduous et al. tropical2005; Souza forest and or the Thegenera social Mischocyttarus wasps in Brazil, Polistes have and the Polybiaasynchronous et al. 2007; Souza et al. colony cycle. This pattern has been well-described for 2008;1994; SantosMechi 1996;et al. 2005; Melo et al. Simões et al. (Gobbi et al. SimõesPrezoto et 2006; al. Elpino-Campos and Zucchi 1980; Simões and Mecchi 1983; Gobbi et al. 1995;1984; 2009b; Lima 2010; Henrique- Giannotti 1998). 1985; On Gobbi the other and Simões hand, the1988; foraging Marques activity 2011; Tanaka Junior and Noll 2011), “campos 1992; Giannotti and Machado 1994; Giannotti rupestres” montane savannas (characteristic vegetation of areas above 800-900 m of altitude that presents open of Polistinae may be primarily limited by physical factors Clementevegetation 2009; with aPrezoto stratum and of Clementemonocot herbs,2010), sub-shrubs “caatinga”, (Spradbery 1973), such as light intensity, temperature, air and shrubs of dicots) (Silva-Pereira and Santos 2006;et al. warmesthumidity, andand leastwind humidspeed, hoursand some of the studies day (Giannotti have shown et 2005; Santos et al. 2006; Santos et al. al.that 1995; individual Andrade wasps and Prezotoforage more 2001; intensively Resende et during al. 2001). the forest(Tropical (Mechi deciduous 1996; Silveira xerophytic et al. woodland)2008; Souza (Melo et al. 2008; Clemente 2009; Souza et al. 2009a), riparian et al. in theThe northernpresent articlecoastal presents region theof Sãoresults Paulo of state,the first in different environments of the 2010; Atlantic Henrique-Simões Forest (Melo et al. inventory of social wasps in an area of the Atlantic Forest 2011; Pereira and Antonialli-Junior 2011; Locher 2012), southwestern Brazil, emphasizing the importance of this 10 Togni et al. | Social Wasps in Ubatuba, Brazil Collecting procedures the region. In addition, we sought to analyze and verify group for further studies on the Conservation Biology of Twenty-five points were marked along the studied the existence of relationships between the temporal trail, with a distance of at least 100 meters between each distribution of humidity and temperature and the richness in order to avoid the occurrence of pseudo-replicates; Materialsand abundance and of Methods species identified. that is, individuals from the same wasp colony collected Study area at separate sampling sites. Thirteen monthly collecting The study site was in the Angelim Rainforest, a nature rounds were performed from May 2007 to May 2008, with each consisting of two days of fieldwork at the et al. study site, with a one-week interval between. The reserve in ombrophilous dense forest, located in the Atlantic relative humidity and environmental temperature at Forest biome (Veloso 1991), situated in Ubatuba city, each sampling point were measured by digital thermo- (23°23′ S, 45°03′ W) São Paulo state, southwestern Brazil hygrometer, making it possible to calculate a monthly (Figure 1). The area is privately owned by Paul and Edna average of these climatic variables and correlate them to StateThomsen Park and of containsSerra do a Mar. total The of 760 farm ha hascovered several by nativetrails Attractivelocal wasp traps diversity. vegetation. Eighty percent of the area occurs within the (Melo et al. 2001; Souza and Prezoto 2006) were installed that provide access to sites in dense forest, some of which Attractive traps made from two-liter plastic PET bottles accompany the course of the Angelim River that originates in the nearby hills within the property. at each marked point. Four circular holes were made in The climate in the region, according to Köppen’s each bottle and 200 mL of attractive liquid were placed andclassification constant (Köppenhumidity 1948),with an is annual tropical average rainforest humidity with inside. Two types of attractants were used: 1) guava juice, an average annual temperature of approximately 26.72°C, or 2) a blend containing 84 grams of sardines (equivalent to a tin) per liter of water. The traps were placed monthly of 73.45%. The region has two seasons: (1) super humid at each of the 25 sampling points, and removed after one with frequent rains from October to April, and (2) a less week. Individual wasps found in the bottles were collected Morellatohumid season 2002). from May to September with less constant with a sieve and tweezers and placed in vials to be fixed in rainfall, but without any water deficit (Bencke and 70% ethanol. Figure 1. Location of the study area. 11 Togni et al. | Social Wasps in Ubatuba, Brazil Active searching Active searching relied on the use of entomological of species in relation et toal. monthly samplings, we used the formula C = P x 100 / N, proposed by Bodenheimer (1955 nets to search for individuals on pathways and trails apud Silveira-Netto 1976), where: in the area, and checking flowers, et al. tree 2007). cavities, Individuals broad- P = number of samples containing a certain species; leafed plants and buildings for the presence of wasps in N = total number of samples; inthe which study thearea area (Elpino-Campos was visited for a total of 10 hours of Data were grouped into the following categories: (1) were actively sampled during the two days every month constant species, present in over 50% of the samples; (2) accessory species, present in 25% to 50% of samples (3) Identificationmonthly sampling of collected effort. material accidental species, present in less than 25 % of samples. To verify the existence of significant differences in the richness and abundance of species of wasps collected et al. All specimens were collected in accordance with the during different seasons, the Mann-Whitney U test was permit number 11413-1 of the Brazilian Institute of performed, using the software BioEstat 5.0 (Ayres Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, IBAMA, 2007). In addition, we applied the Spearman correlation and were deposited in the Entomological Collection at the test (BioEstat 5.0) to verify a possible relationship SP,Department Brazil and of at Zoology, the Entomological Universidade Collection Estadual at Paulista Museu monthly.between the diversity of social wasps and environment “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” (UNESP), campus of Rio Claro, temperature and relative humidity, which were measured Results Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Bélem, PA, Brazil. Species were 2007;identified Silveira through et al.