Documentation and comments regarding identification of Vespula vulgaris (Linnaeus) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in southern California mountains.

摘要

Yellowjackets of the species Vespula vulgaris (Linnaeus) 1758 are now documented in southern California mountains. Due to clinal variation, the reduction in melanism in diagnostic features has caused specimens of southern California V. vulgaris to either be misidentified or be identified with uncertainty. Difficulty in determination of this species led to the reconsideration of published keys and the discovery of one character (the black stripe dorsal to the torulus) that consistently allowed for accurate species identification of V. vulgaris specimens examined from the western United States from Alaska to southern California..