Abstract
Mischocyttarus saussurei nests show a curious architectural pattern which could be related to colony camouflage. Since information on that species is scarce in literature, this study aimed to record ecological data on M. saussurei, as well as morphometric data on its nests. Data was collected at the Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca state park and at the municipalities of Barroso and Inconfidentes, Minas Gerais state, Southeastern Brazil. Seven colonies were located, exclusively in conserved environments. Five nests were dissected for morphometric analysis and for the assessment of the vegetal matter incorporated to comb walls. Nests showed comb cells opening towards the substrate and covered by vegetal layers, in which three families of mosses and three of liverworts could be identified. We deduct that the nests’ morphometry and the incorporation of vegetal layers to the combs are related to the camouflaging of colonies amidst their substrate.
Highlights
Mischocyttarini is the most diverse tribe within the Polistinae paper wasps, despite containing a single genus, Mischocyttarus
This study aimed to present novel information on the nesting behaviour of M. saussurei, as well as ecological data for the species in different ecosystems in Southeastern Brazil
Ecological data was collected during a study on social wasp species richness carried out between 2016 and 2017 in campos rupestres (“rupestrian grasslands”) environments within the of Ibitipoca state park (21o43’ S 43o54’ W) and seasonal semideciduous montane Atlantic forests in Barroso (21o12’ S 43o55’ W) and Inconfidentes (22o19’ S 46o19’ W) cities in the Minas Gerais state, Southeastern Brazil
Summary
Mischocyttarini is the most diverse tribe within the Polistinae paper wasps, despite containing a single genus, Mischocyttarus. These taxa encompass around 250 species and are widely distributed throughout South America and other tropical regions (Silveira et al, 2008; Barbosa et al, 2016a). Despite the number of species sampled in diversity studies throughout Brazil (Barbosa et al, 2016), the ecological niches most of them fill are still poorly understood, which includes Mischocyttarus saussurei Zikán, 1949 For this species, the only data currently available on biology, geographical distribution, morphology and colony aspects are included in the works of Zikán (1949) and Richards (1978)
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