| Polistes bahamensis | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Vespidae |
| Subfamily: | Polistinae |
| Genus: | Polistes |
| Species: | P. bahamensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Polistes bahamensis | |
| Synonyms [1] [2] [3] | |
| |
Polistes bahamensis is a large species of colourful paper wasp in the genus Polistes of the family Vespidae which occurs in the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana. [1] [4] It is also said to occur in Georgia. [4] [5]
It was first described as an endemic new species from the Bahamas by Joseph Charles Bequaert and George Salt in 1931, consisting of three varieties based on geography and patterns of coloured markings, P. bahamensis var. bahamensis, P. bahamensis var. bilineolatus and P. bahamensis var. picturatus. The nominate variety of bahamensis was reported to be an endemic of Andros Island, var. bilineolatus was only found in the central islands of New Providence and Eleuthera, and var. picturatus was known from Acklins, Mariguana, Rum Cay, Crooked Island, Long Island, Watlings Island and Cat Island. [6] [7] [8] In 1940 Bequaert subsumed the species and its three varieties under P. exclamans, as well as described another new variety in that species, P. exclamans var. louisianus, from three female specimens caught in New Orleans. [7] [8]
In 1955 the variety louisianus was synonymised with P. exclamans sensu stricto by Roy Snelling, who stated that after examining large amounts of the wasps from two nests recovered in New Orleans, the vast majority of the individual wasps were typical nominate forms of exclamans, with only one or two individuals per nest displaying the colour patterns (reduced yellow markings) reported by Bequaert in 1940, and he furthermore states that he collected a single louisianus wasp in a very large colony of P. exclamans var. exclamans in Kansas. Snelling also expanded the distribution of the taxon outside of the Bahamas by reporting on the presence of P. exclamans var. bahamensis in southern Florida, stating some, but not all, of the 21 wasps collected in the Royal Palm State Park, a wooded grove which has now become the nucleus of the Everglades, and the nearby Archbold Biological Station were somewhat different in colouration with bahamensis, but that the collection of specimens as a whole integrated seamlessly with the colour pattern of insular specimens. Snelling continued to recognise the P. exclamans varieties bilineolatus and picturatus as Bahamanian endemics. [8]
Bequaert and Salt's three or four varieties were then treated as subspecies of P. exclamans by Owain Richards in 1978.
Karl Vorse Krombein was apparently the first to associate the variety louisianus with P. exclamans var. bahamensis in 1979, attributing the synonymy to Snelling. [9] In 1983 Snelling chose to re-recognise P. bahamensis as a valid species again, and while doing so synonymised the subspecies bilineolatus and picturatus and "reiterated" his conclusion regarding the variety louisianus -although by 1983 he was stating that he had synonymised it with bahamensis in 1955 instead of P. exclamans var. exclamans. By recognising the New Orleans specimens as bahamensis in 1983, Snelling effectively expanded the known distribution of this taxon hundreds of kilometres down the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. [3] As of 2017 Kons and Rowan consider that all or at least part of the US population should be split off into a separate species, P. louisianus; -these writers believe that many Polistes species should be split into numerous sympatric species based on small differences in their body colour. [2] [10]
The etymology of the specific epithet bahamensis is from the place 'the Bahamas', combined with the Latin suffix -ensis, meaning 'of, or from, (a place)' or 'pertaining to', together forming an adjective with the meaning: 'of the Bahamas'.
The identification of this species has always been very difficult. When Bequaert first examined the first three specimens from New Orleans around 1940, he at first thought them to be perhaps P. crinitus or P. versicolor introduced from the Caribbean. [7] Snelling examined the same population and classified it as P. exclamans var. exclamans in 1955. [8]
It has also been seen as very similar to P. annularis, with which it shares a slender first metasomal segment. It can be distinguished from this species by the yellow spot on the mesopleuron, and almost always having a yellow apical band on the posterior (back) margin of the tergites and more developed yellow markings on the mesosoma. [4]
The known range has expanded as certain populations of wasps were determined to be this species, and with the collection of more specimens.
The first specimens were first collected on New Providence Island in 1909. Bequaert and Salt described the species in 1931 from specimens collected on Acklins, Andros Island, Cat Island, Crooked Island, Eleuthera, Long Island, Mariguana, New Providence Island, Rum Cay and Watlings Island. [6] [7] [8] Specimens were first collected on Mayaguana in 1996, and the reported range was extended further to Great Inagua in 2011, with the species now believed to occur on all the major islands of the Bahamas, [11]
Snelling first extended the range of this species to southern Florida when he identified a group of specimens of wasps collected there since the late 1930s as belonging to this species in a 1955 article. The louisianus colour form described by Bequaert in 1940, considered a synonym of the nominate taxon of P. exclamans by Snelling at the time, was initially only known from New Orleans, but Snelling also described having seen a single individual in a nest of P. exclamans in Kansas. [8] The taxon is included in the 1979 Catalog of Hymenoptera in America north of Mexico, which for some reason does not include endemic varieties found in the Bahamas as found in America north of Mexico, as a subspecies of P. exclamans. In this work louisianus is considered a synonym of P. exclamans var. bahamensis, and the distribution is given as from "Louisiana to Florida". [9]
Snelling reported the presence of this taxon in the USA again in 1983, stating its range included Florida, Georgia and Louisiana. [4] [10] A photograph of a number of wasps building a nest in coastal North Carolina in 2017 has been identified as being of this species. [1]
It has usually been recorded nesting under eaves of roofs of buildings [11] [12] and sometimes under palm fronds. [4] [11] The nest is suspended from an attachment stalk known as a petiole. [11]
As of 2017, no Strepsipteran parasites are reported for P. bahamensis. [13]
It is quite common in the centre of its range, such as on New Providence Island, especially in urban areas such as the capital city Nassau. In common with most species, the abundance diminishes at the edges of its distribution, being quite rare on Great Inagua and Mayaguana and "sporadic" along the Gulf Coast of Florida. [11]
The IUCN has not evaluated this species' conservation status. [1]
It has been recorded as present in the following protected areas:
The Vespidae are a large, diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps, including nearly all the known eusocial wasps and many solitary wasps. Each social wasp colony includes a queen and a number of female workers with varying degrees of sterility relative to the queen. In temperate social species, colonies usually last only one year, dying at the onset of winter. New queens and males (drones) are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queens hibernate over winter in cracks or other sheltered locations. The nests of most species are constructed out of mud, but polistines and vespines use plant fibers, chewed to form a sort of paper. Many species are pollen vectors contributing to the pollination of several plants, being potential or even effective pollinators, while others are notable predators of pest insect species.
Paper wasps are vespid wasps that gather fibers from dead wood and plant stems, which they mix with saliva, and use to construct nests made of gray or brown papery material. Some types of paper wasps are also sometimes called umbrella wasps, due to the distinctive design of their nests.
Wasps of the cosmopolitan genus Polistes are the most familiar of the polistine wasps, and are the most common type of paper wasp in North America. Walter Ebeling coined the vernacular name "umbrella wasps" for this genus in 1975 to distinguish it from other types of paper wasp, in reference to the form of their nests. It is also the single largest genus within the family Vespidae, with over 300 recognized species and subspecies. Their innate preferences for nest-building sites leads them to commonly build nests on human habitation, where they can be very unwelcome; although generally not aggressive, they can be provoked into defending their nests. All species are predatory, and they may consume large numbers of caterpillars, in which respect they are generally considered beneficial. The European paper wasp, Polistes dominula, was introduced into the US about 1981 and has quickly spread throughout most of the country, in most cases replacing native species within a few years. This species is very commonly mistaken for a yellow jacket, as it is black, strongly marked with yellow, and quite different from the native North American species of Polistes. The cuckoo wasp, Polistes semenowi, is an obligate social parasite, whose only host is P. dominula. Polistes metricus adults malaxate their insect prey by chewing them into a pulp, sucking out and ingesting the body fluids, then feeding the rest of the morsel to their larvae. The most widely distributed South American wasp species, Polistes versicolor, is particularly common in the southeastern Brazilian states. This social wasp is commonly referred to as the yellow paper wasp due to the distinct yellow bands found on its thorax and abdomen. Polistes wasps can be identified by their characteristic flight; their long legs dangle below their bodies, which are also more slender than a yellow jacket.
The Polistinae is a subfamily of eusocial wasps belonging to the family Vespidae. They are closely related to the more familiar wasps and true hornets of the subfamily Vespinae, containing four tribes. With about 1,100 species total, it is the second-most diverse subfamily within the Vespidae, and while most species are tropical or subtropical, they include some of the most frequently encountered large wasps in temperate regions.
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.
Polistes annularis is a species of paper wasp found throughout the eastern half of the United States. This species of red paper wasp is known for its large size and its red-and-black coloration and is variably referred to as a ringed paper wasp or jack Spaniard wasp. It builds its nest under overhangs near bodies of water that minimize the amount of sunlight penetration. It clusters its nests together in large aggregations, and consumes nectar and other insects. Its principal predator is the ant, although birds are also known to prey on it. Unlike other wasps, P. annularis is relatively robust in winter conditions, and has also been observed to store honey in advance of hibernation. This species has also been used as a model species to demonstrate the ability to use microsatellite markers in maternity assignment of social insects.
Polistes exclamans, the Guinea paper wasp, is a social wasp and is part of the family Vespidae of the order Hymenoptera. It is found throughout the United States, Mexico, the Bahamas, Jamaica and parts of Canada. Due to solitary nest founding by queens, P. exclamans has extended its range in the past few decades and now covers the eastern half of the United States, as well as part of the north. This expansion is typically attributed to changing global climate and temperatures. P. exclamans has three specific castes, including males, workers, and queens, but the dominance hierarchy is further distinguished by age. The older the wasp is, the higher it is in ranking within the colony. In most P. exclamans nests, there is one queen who lays all the eggs in the colony. The physiological similarities between the worker and queen castes have led to experiments attempting to distinguish the characteristics of these two castes and how they are determined, though males have easily identifiable physiological characteristics. Since P. exclamans live in relatively small, open combed nests, they are often subject to predators and parasites, such as Chalcoela iphitalis, Elasmus polistis, and birds. P. exclamans have defense and recognition strategies that help protect against these predators and parasites.
Polistes carnifex, commonly known as the executioner wasp, is a neotropical vespid wasp in the cosmopolitan genus Polistes.
Polistes carolina is one of two species of red paper wasp found in the eastern United States and is noted for the finer ridges on its propodeum. It is a social wasp in the family Vespidae. They are native to the United States from Texas to Florida, north to New York, and west to Nebraska. The wasp's common name is due to the reddish-brown color of its head and body. P. carolina prefer to build their nests in protected spaces.
Polistes bellicosus is a social paper wasp from the order Hymenoptera typically found within Texas, namely the Houston area. Like other paper wasps, Polistes bellicosus build nests by manipulating exposed fibers into paper to create cells. P. bellicosus often rebuild their nests at least once per colony season due to predation.
Polistes major is a Neotropical species of paper wasp found from South America north into the southern United States. This species is known as avispa de caballo in the Dominican Republic.
Polistes apachus is a social wasp native to western North America. It is known in English by the common name Texas paper wasp, or southwestern Texas paper wasp. It has also been called the Apache wasp, perhaps first by Simmons et al. in California in 1948. Simmons et al. reported how in California P. apachus is often found in fig orchards where it is considered a pest species due to its aggressive attacks and painful stings on farm labourers during harvest time in September and October. It may sometimes also be found in other types of orchards or in vineyards, but in California it is also commonly found to establish nests in or on houses in urban areas in attics or under the eaves of buildings. It is a type of paper wasp, which is the common name for a type of wasp that uses a papery material to construct its nests.
Polistes erythrocephalus is a species of paper wasp in the subfamily Polistinae of family Vespidae found in Central and South America. P. erythrocephalus is a eusocial wasp, meaning that it possesses both reproductive and non-reproductive castes. The cooperation between the two castes to raise young demonstrates the altruistic nature of these wasps. P. erythrocephalus exhibits a four-stage colony cycle, as do many other Polistes wasps. This species generally feeds on larvae, occasionally their own, and is preyed upon by species such as army ants.
Polistes aurifer, the golden paper wasp, is a species of paper wasp in the genus Polistes of the family Vespidae. It occurs in the western part of North America, from southern Canada through the United States to northern Mexico.
Polistes comanchus is a species of paper wasp from northwestern Mexico to the south central United States.
Polistes rubiginosus is one of two species of red paper wasp found in the eastern United States and is noted for the coarser ridges on its propodeum. It is a social wasp in the family Vespidae. Until taxonomic revision by Matthias Buck in 2012, P. rubiginosus was long known under the name P. perplexus. It occurs northernmost from Maryland, Pennsylvania to northern Ohio, south to Florida, and from there west to central Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona.
Polistes lanio is a species of paper wasp and one of several species in the subgenus Polistes (Aphanilopterus) known as a jack Spaniard wasp.
Van der Vecht's gland or Van der Vecht's organ is a gland which is located in an area of modified cuticle on the rearmost gastral sternite of female wasps. This gland secretes chemicals which are important in the determination and maintenance of the hierarchy of groups of eusocial wasps and are used in the defence of the nests in others. In the Asian giant hornet the van der Vecht's gland is used to scent mark hives of honey bees to attract other members of their colony to cooperatively attack the hive; the only known case of the gland's use to scent mark a food source. In the cleptoparasitic paper wasp Polistes semenowi the female usurps the host foundress, usually Polistes dominula and uses an enlarged Van der Vecht's gland to produce large quantities of hydrocarbons and to control the host workers, and even sometimes the host foundress. The gland was discovered by, and named in honour of, the Dutch entomologist Jacobus van der Vecht.
Polistes major castaneicolor is a subspecies of red paper wasp found in the Sonoran Desert. It ranges from Arizona, United States, to Sonora, Mexico.
Polistes tepidus is a species of wasp in the family Vespidae. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. The species is endemic to parts of Oceania, primarily Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the Solomon Islands. Workers feed upon caterpillars to cache food for their nest. Nests are usually located in trees or other foliage but can also be found within human structures.