A new species of paper wasp from Costa Rica (Hymenoptera : Vespidae; Polistinae, Epiponini)

摘要

Polybia selvana, a new species of paper,gasp from Costa Rica, is described. The social wasp genus Polybia is the one of the largest and most commonly encountered paper wasp genera in the Neotropics. Presently, there are 58 species recognized, with another 19 subspecies (Richards, 1978; Cooper, 1993; Carpenter et al., 2000; Raw, 2000). The species have a cumulative range from Mexico to Argentina, and both nests and individuals are the most abundant paper wasps at sites where this has been measured (Jeanne, 1991). Two species of fossil Polybia have also been described, from the Oligocene of the Isle of Wight, however their identification even as polistines is doubtful (Carpenter and Grimaldi, 1997). We describe here a new species of Polybia from Costa Rica. Previously, 15 species were recorded for the Costa Rican fauna (West-Eberhard et al., 1995). The new species has been found only at La Selvaa, a well known research station (McDade et al., 1994) that is now the focus of a long term survey of the arthropod fauna, Project "ALAS" (Arthropods of La Selva, see http://viceroy,eeb.uconn,edu/ALAS/ALAS.html). For some years prior to the initiation of the survey, one of the principal investigators of that project, Henry Hespenheide, collected Vespidae and sent them to the first author for identification. The material included a few specimens of the undescribed species of Polybia. In 1995, the second author visited La Selva, and collected a colony of this species. We are thus able to describe the nest and larva, as well as adults of both sexes. Description of the new species now seems appropriate in view of the interest and activity in the type locality.