Provespa

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Provespa
Provespa sp.

Provespa sp.

Systematics
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Subordination : Waist Wasps (Apocrita)
Superfamily : Vespoidea
Family : Wasps (Vespidae)
Subfamily : Real wasps (Vespinae)
Genre : Provespa
Scientific name
Provespa
Ashmead , 1903

Provespa is a genus of real wasps with distribution in tropical East Asia . It is of three types .

features

The wasps reach a length of about 11 to 20 millimeters. They are of a uniform yellowish-brown color, only the clypeus is sometimes yellow. The head is relatively small in relation to the body size, with a short parting and narrow temples. The unusually large ocelles are striking . The posterior ocelles are closer to the respective complex eyes than to each other, their distance from the complex eyes is about the same as that to the occiput. The first segment of the free abdomen is cup-shaped, its tergite narrows convexly towards the front .

distribution

The Provespa species live in Southeast Asia, from Southeast India and South China ( Yunnan , Guangxi ) via the rear Indian peninsula (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia) to the islands of Sumatra , Borneo and Java . Some information far from the usual distribution from Sulawesi and from Australia ( Queensland ) are based on collection material and are considered dubious (possible confusion of labels or locations or the displacement of individual animals through ship transport).

Biology and way of life

The Provespa species live in forests, from the tropical lowlands to mountain ranges of around 2000 meters above sea level. They are nocturnal and therefore an exception among the social wasps. Apart from them, only the common wasp genus Apoica is strictly nocturnal . The activity starts with sunset, about three hours later the activity maximum is reached. The wasps return to the nest at daybreak, where they spend the bright hours. Only the nest entrance is guarded by some guards. If the nest is attacked, the entire colony becomes active and attacks the intruder as a collective swarm. The wasps are attracted by artificial light sources at night and therefore often invade houses, where they can become quite annoying.

The species build free-hanging nests in the foliage of trees and bushes, about one, rarely up to ten meters in height. Provespa anomala also rarely builds nests in cavities such as tree hollows. As is typical for Vespidae, the nests consist of horizontally arranged honeycomb plates, which are surrounded by a common, insulating nest shell on top of each other. The paper-like mass of chewed wood that is used for construction contains many long plant hairs and fibers in the species. The nest shell appears smooth and uniform, without any distinctive structures such as growth strips. A fully grown nest reaches about 15 to 20 centimeters in diameter at 17 to 22 centimeters in height, with four to six honeycombs, with 2000 to 2500 cells, but which are always used several times in a row. The case is very stable and waterproof. The nest has a lifespan of around seven to ten months. In the second half of the lifespan, the sex animals (drones and young queens) are used in addition to workers. Each nest has a queen and up to 700 workers.

As far as is known, new colonies in Provespa are established by swarming (the establishment in Provespa nocturna has not yet been observed). Adult colonies first produce males (drones) and a little later in particularly large cells around 10 to 30 young queens who live in the nest for a while. Each young queen leaves the nest individually, accompanied by a few dozen workers, and establishes a new nest with them at a new location.

Systematics

There are three known types:

This means that only in Malaysia do all three species of the genus occur side by side. According to a combined analysis, Provespa anomala and Provespa nocturna are sister species .

The position of the genus within the Vespinae has not yet been clarified with certainty. Possibly they are sister group of the genus Vespa . An older analysis saw them as a sister group to the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jacobus van der Vecht (1957): The Vespinae of the Indo-Malayan and Papuan Areas (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Zoological Negotiations 34: 1-83.
  2. ↑ a b Fuki Saito, Jun-ichi Kojima (2011): Phylogenetic Analysis and Biogeography of the Nocturnal Hornets, Provespa (Insect Hay: menoptera: Vespidae: Vespinae). Species Diversity 16: 65-74.
  3. ↑ Michael Madl (2012): Notes on the genus Provespa AshmeAd, 1903 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Vespinae) based on the material of the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Austria). Annals of the Natural History Museum Vienna, B 114: 27–35.
  4. ↑ a b c Makoto Matsuura: Vespa and Provespa. - In: Kenneth G. Ross & Robert W. Matthews (editors): The Social Biology of Wasps. Cornell University Press, Ithaca. ISBN 978-0-8014-9906-7 . Pages 232–262.
  5. ^ John W. Wenzel (1998): A Generic Key to the Nests of Hornets, Yellowjackets, and Paper Wasps Worldwide (Vespidae: Vespinae, Polistinae). American Museum Novitates Number 3224, 39 f.
  6. ^ SJ Martin (1995): Hornets (Hymenoptera: Vespinae) of Malaysia. Malayan Nature Journal 49: 71-82.
  7. ↑ Kurt M. Pickett & James M. Carpenter (2010): Simultaneous Analysis and the Origin of Eusociality in the Vespidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 68 (1): 3-33.
  8. ↑ Federico Lopez-Osorio, Adrien Perrard, Kurt M. Pickett, James M. Carpenter, Ingi Agnarsson (2015): Phylogenetic tests reject Emery's rule in the evolution of social parasitism in yellowjackets and hornets (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Vespinae). Royal Society Open Science 2 (9): 150-159. doi: 10.1098 / rsos.150159
  9. ↑ James M. Carpenter (1987): Phylogenetic relationships and classification of the Vespinae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Systematic Entomology 12: 413-431.

Web links

Commons : Provespa  - collection of images, videos and audio files