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.
Highlights
Social insects adopt different strategies to defend their colonies, including camouflage
Aiming to increase the knowledge about this strategy on social wasps, in this study we present records of nest camouflage for Parachartergus smithii, Parachartergus wagneri du Buysson, Chartergellus communis Richards, Metapolybia cingulata (Fabricius) and Mischocyttarus anthracinus Richards, being is last, P. smithii and P. wagneri are poorly discussed within the specialized literature regarding their nesting behavior
Since maintaining the colony is vital for the survival of social wasps, an important ecological strategy for colony defense is nest camouflage (Richards 1978; Wenzel 1998; Mateus et al 1997), which in some species presents a high elaboration degree, so that the colonies become undetectable against the substrate (Hermann & Blum 1981)
Summary
Social insects adopt different strategies to defend their colonies, including camouflage. Aiming to increase the knowledge about this strategy on social wasps, in this study we present records of nest camouflage for Parachartergus smithii (de Saussure), Parachartergus wagneri du Buysson, Chartergellus communis Richards, Metapolybia cingulata (Fabricius) and Mischocyttarus anthracinus Richards, being is last, P. smithii and P. wagneri are poorly discussed within the specialized literature regarding their nesting behavior.
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