Parachartergus

Parachartergus
Parachartergus sp. tending treehopper nymphs
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Vespidae
Subfamily:	Polistinae
Tribe:	Epiponini
Genus:	Parachartergus R. von Ihering, 1904

Parachartergus is a genus of epiponine social wasps belonging to the subfamily Polistinae.

Species

There are 17 described species of Parachartergus:

• Parachartergus amazonensis Ducke, 1905 ^[1]
• Parachartergus apicalis (Fabricius, 1804) - known to form mutualistic relationships with treehoppers. The male genitalia are noted for their movements of "startling complexity". ^[2]
• Parachartergus apicaloides Willink, 1959
• Parachartergus aztecus Willink, 1959 ^[3]
• Parachartergus colobopterus (Lichtenstein, 1796) - unusually nests contain several queens. The species is docile, preferring to leave the nest than mount an attack.
• Parachartergus flavofasciatus (Cameron, 1906) ^[3]
• Parachartergus fraternus (Gribodo, 1892) - closely related to P. apicalis and also forms mutualistic relationships with treehoppers ^[4]
• Parachartergus fulgidipennis (de Saussure, 1854) ^[1]
• Parachartergus griseus (Fox, 1898) ^{[3] [5]}
• Parachartergus lenkoi Richards, 1978 ^[3]
• Parachartergus pacificus Cooper, 2000
• Parachartergus pseudoapicalis Willink, 1951 ^[6]
• Parachartergus richardsi Willink, 1951 ^[5]
• Parachartergus smithii (de Saussure, 1854) ^[7]
• Parachartergus tomentus Willink, 1959 ^[3]
• Parachartergus weyrauchi du Buysson, 1904 ^[3]
• Parachartergus wagneri Willink, 1959 ^[3]

Gallery

• 
  Parachartergus amazonensis
• 
  Parachartergus apicalis
• 
  Parachartergus apicaloides
• 
  Parachartergus colobopterus
• 
  Parachartergus fraternus
• 
  Parachartergus fraternus nest
• 
  Parachartergus pseudapicalis
• 
  Parachartergus smithii

References

1. Hunt, James H.; Carpenter, James M. (October 2004). "Intra-specific Nest Form Variation in Some Neotropical Swarm-founding Wasps of the Genus Parachartergus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Epiponini)". Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 77 (4): 448–456. doi:10.2317/E-26.1.
2. West-Eberhard, Mary Jane (1984). "13. Sexual selection, competitive communication and species-specific signals in insects". In Lewis, T. (ed.). Insect Communication. New York: Academic Press. p. 296. ISBN   0-12-447175-7 . Retrieved 2025-05-08.
3. Richards, Owain Westmacott (1978). The Social Wasps of the Americas Excluding the Vespinae. British Museum (Natural History). pp. 203–213. ISBN   978-0-565-00785-0.
4. Wetterer, James K.; Wetterer, Andrea L.; Rumbaitis-del Rio, Christina; Chang, Catherine; Vega, Genevieve; Manne, Lisa L.; Aukema, Juliann; Karubian, Jordan; Sloan, Alex; Desai, Manish (2000). "Diel Shifts in Treehopper-Tending by Ants and Wasps in Costa Rica (Hymenoptera)". Sociobiology. 36 (1): 123–131. Retrieved 2025-05-08.
5. Somavilla, Alexandre; De Oliveira, Marcio Luiz (30 May 2017). "Social wasps (Vespidae: Polistinae) from Ducke Reserve, Amazonas, Brazil". Sociobiology. 64 (1): 125. doi: 10.13102/sociobiology.v64i1.1215 .
6. Brito, E. L. S.; Aragão, M.; Santos, G. M. M. (16 May 2018). "Colony defensive behavior by the swarm-founding wasp Parachartergus pseudoapicalis: increase on investment predicts the intensity of nest defense". Insectes Sociaux. 65 (3): 411–417. doi:10.1007/s00040-018-0627-6.
7. Mateus, Sidnei; Noll, Fernando Barbosa; Zucchi, Ronaldo (1997). "Morphological Caste Differences in the Neotropical Swarm-Founding Polistine Wasps: Parachartergus smithii (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 105 (3/4): 129–139. JSTOR   25010237.