Nest camouflage records on five social wasp species (Vespidae, Polistinae) from southeastern Brazil

Marcos Magalhães de  Souza; Mateus Aparecido Clemente; Gabriel Teofilo-Guedes

doi:10.12741/ebrasilis.v13.e929

Authors

Marcos Magalhães de Souza Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência Tecnologia do Sul de Minas, Campus Inconfidentes https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0415-1714
Mateus Aparecido Clemente Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Instituto de Biociências, Zoology Department https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4969-1335
Gabriel Teofilo-Guedes Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9462-3919

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12741/ebrasilis.v13.e929

Keywords:

Chartergellus, Colony Defense, Metapolybia, Parachartergus

Abstract

Social insects use different strategies to defend their colonies, including camouflage. In order to expand knowledge, regarding the strategy of camouflage in social wasps, information is presented on the camouflage pattern of the species: Parachartergus smithii (De Saussure), Parachartergus wagneri Du Buysson, Chartergellus communis Richards, Metapolybia cingulata (Fabricius) and Mischocyttarus anthracinus Richards.These species are uncommon in inventory studies in Brazil. Records occur in different Conservation Units, between 2011 and 2019, in the Minas Gerais State, Brazil Southeastern. Camouflage seems to be the main defense strategy for these species, due to the color and shape of their nests in line with the substrate, as well as their docile behavior. The exception is Metapolybia cingulata, which in addition to camouflage shows aggressive behavior in some situations, which suggests the use of different strategies in the colony defense.

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