Notes on the Neotropical Zethus Fabricius, 1804 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Eumeninae) with the description of two new species from Brazil
Author
Lopes, Rogério B.
Author
Noll, Fernando B.
text
Zootaxa
2014
3784
2
179
186
journal article
46115
10.11646/zootaxa.3784.2.7
1b7c5ccb-c0b7-4f36-bfac-0f5648d67ae8
1175-5326
229049
C1833B05-0BAB-4AE6-A303-EF58AE71F39C
Zethus
(
Zethoides
)
biglumis
Spinola, 1841
(
Fig. 5
)
Zethus biglumis
Spinola, 1841
: 135
. (
holotype
♀—unknown deposit location, Cayenne,
French Guiana
).
Zethus
(Division III—division
Didymogastra
)
biglumis
: de
Saussure, 1852
: 19
(cat.; distr.).
Zethus
(Div. III—Species of South
America
)
biglumis
:
Smith, 1857
: 14
(cat.).
Zethus
(division
Zethusculus
)
biglumis
: de
Saussure (1855)
: 118
, 120, removed from division
Didymogastra
to division
Zethusculus
; de
Saussure, 1875
: 39
(cat.; distr.).
Zethus
(
Zethusculus
)
biglumis
:
Dalla Torre, 1894
: 9
(cat.; distr.);
Dalla Torre, 1904
: 15
(cat.; distr.);
Zavattari, 1912
: 9
, 36 (cat.; distr.; key).
Zethus
(
Zethoides
)
biglumis
:
Bohart & Stange, 1965
: 183
, 184 (cat.; distr; key)
Zethus
(Division I)
ferrugineus
de
Saussure, 1852
: 14
.
Holotype
♀ (National History Museum, London) (cat.).
syn. nov.
Zethus
(Div. III—Species of South
America
)
ferrugineus
:
Smith, 1857
: 11
.
Zethus
(division
Zethusculus
)
ferrugineus
: de
Saussure, 1875
: 38
(cat.; distr.).
Zethus
(
Zethusculus
)
ferrugineus
:
Dalla Torre, 1894
: 11
(cat.; distr.);
Dalla Torre, 1904
: 15
(cat.; distr.);
Zavattari, 1912
: 9
, 42(cat.; distr.; key)
Zethus
(
Zethoides
)
biglumis ferrugineus
:
Bohart & Stange, 1965
: 183
, 184 (cat.; distr.; key).
FIGURE 5.
Zethus biglumis
, female, habitus, collected in Vicentinópolis, São Paulo.
Bohart and Stange (1965)
treat
Zethus biglumis
as separated into two subspecies:
Z. b. biglumis
and
Z. b. ferrugineus
. After examining external morphology and male genitalia of both subspecies, no significant differences other than the coloration were found. Thus, the color variation is judged to be a mere variation and there is no need for such separation.
Although coloration has been used for differentiating species and subspecies of
Zethus
in identification keys (
Bohart & Stange, 1965
), this trait has to be looked upon carefully. Even de
Saussure (1875)
already detected the great color variation within species in the genus when he declared regretful on describing many species in his monograph (de
Saussure, 1852
) based only on coloration.
Another detail about this species is the finding of a female in the Southeastern region of
Brazil
, in a fragment of semideciduous forest. The specimen follows a coloration pattern similar to “
ferrugineus
” but the second tergum tends to be lighter. This expands greatly the distribution of the species, since it was known to occur only in the Amazon and the southernmost location collection site was in Buena Vista, Santa Cruz,
Bolivia
(
Bohart & Stange, 1965
).
Material.
PERU
: Loreto: Iquitos/
14.VIII.1906
/Ducke/
Peru
Amazonico/
MPEG
HYM
11009088 [♀,
MPEG
]; Pucallpa/
16.XI.1962
/ J. M. Schunke [♀,
MSNVE
]; (idem)/
23.XI.1962
[♂,
MSNVE
];
BRAZIL
: Amazonas: S. Antônio do Içá/
27.IX.1906
/Ducke/
Zettus/
Discoelius biglumis
/
MPEG
HYM
11009087 [♂,
MPEG
]; Teffé/
28.VI. 1906
/Ducke [♂,
MPEG
]; (idem)/
MPEG
HYM
11009088 [♀,
MPEG
]; Pará:
14.VIII.1907
/Ducke/
MPEG
HYM
11009072 [♀,
MPEG
]; (idem)/
MPEG
HYM
11009076 [♂,
MPEG
]; Alenquer/
21.VII.1903
/Ducke/
MPEG
HYM
11009069 [♀,
MPEG
]; Prainha/
12.V.1903
/Ducke/
MPEG
HYM
11009073 [♀,
MPEG
]; (idem)/
12.V.1903
/
MPEG
HYM
11009075 [♂,
MPEG
]; São Paulo: Vicentinópolis,
21.IX.2007
/2ª arm. – preta [♀, IBILCE].
Distribution.
Surinam
: Para;
Brazil
: Amazonas, Pará, São Paulo;
Peru
: Loreto;
Bolívia
: Santa Cruz.