The genus Polistes Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) of Brazil: morphological diagnoses, identification key, and geographical distribution Author Brito, Samanta 0000-0002-0945-6894 Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Manaus, AM, Brazil brito.samanta25@gmail.com Author Oliveira, Marcio L. 0000-0002-3950-1086 Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Manaus, AM, Brazil mlolivei@inpa.gov.br Author Carpenter, James M. 0000-0001-6754-8028 American Museum of Natural History, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, New York, USA carpente@amnh.org Author Somavilla, Alexandre Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Manaus, AM, Brazil text Zootaxa 2024 2024-08-21 5496 4 509 545 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5496.4.3 journal article 302759 10.11646/zootaxa.5496.4.3 f63148cc-bf84-485d-8ef8-561e04d99cb4 1175-5326 13617543 CC25A6CB-0783-4917-BEF7-0F332F6451F5 Polistes ( Aphanilopterus ) binotatus de Saussure, 1853 ( Figs 5, 6 ) Polistes binotatus de Saussure, 1853: 87 , ♀ . Diagnosis. Female. Body black, with reduced brown marks on face, pronotum, tegula, and legs. Wing pigmentation yellow to weakly brown. Size relatively small, maximum 15 mm in total length. Clypeus slightly wider than long or as long as wide, covered by short bristles at its base becoming long toward the apex, and with medium-sized and deep punctures, present only in the apical region, apex pointed, clypeus-eye touching for an extent equal to or greater than width of antennal socket; gena width at midlength equal to or slightly wider than eye; occipital carina strong, extending to middle of the eye; humeri not projecting; mesepisternum with short bristles and small and deep punctation; propodeal concavity widely extended in the center, propodeal striae strong in the center and weak on the sides; tergum I longer than wide, with evanescent bristles, punctures strong, medium sized, and deep; tergum II wider than or as wide as long, short and dense bristles, corrugation present. Male. Similar to the females, except for the gena less broad than the eyes and the reddish wing pigmentation. Material examined . 3♀ , 2♂ in total. Brazil : Rio de Janeiro , 1♀ , 1♂ ( AMNH ) , 1♀ , 1♂ ( MCZ ) , 1♀ ( NHM ) . Distribution. Brazil : Rio de Janeiro .