The Social Wasp Fauna of a Riparian Forest in Southeastern Brazil (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Gabriela De Almeida Locher,Olga Coutinho Togni,Orlando Tobias Silveira,Edilberto Giannotti

doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v61i2.225-233

Abstract

An inventory of social wasps was made in a section of riparian forest along the Passa-Cinco River in Ipeúna, São Paulo, Brazil. Two active collecting methods (active collecting and point sampling using a liquid bait) and one passive method (baited PET bottle trap) were used. Thirty-one species belonging to eight genera were recorded; the most abundant were Agelaia vicina and Agelaia pallipes, species belonging to the tribe Epiponini which was dominant in the sample. In the State of São Paulo, a local richness greater than the one sampled in Ipeúna was only reported for Rio Claro city. Regarding sampling methods, active collecting obtained the greatest richness value and also presented the largest number of exclusive species to a given method; however, for the other methods as well, exclusive species were also obtained.

Highlights

Native forests have been exploited for years in a degrading manner, resulting in a number of environmental problems such as species extinctions, local climate change, soil erosion, siltation and eutrophication of watercourses (Ferreira & Dias, 2004)
The results increased the data on the diversity of social wasps of the State and were used to compare richness, equitability and diversity obtained with several collecting methods which have been employed to social wasps
Other studies have noted the predominance of Epiponini in the total abundance of social wasps found

Summary

Introduction

Native forests have been exploited for years in a degrading manner, resulting in a number of environmental problems such as species extinctions, local climate change, soil erosion, siltation and eutrophication of watercourses (Ferreira & Dias, 2004). Due to this high diversity and the importance that has been assigned to this group of insects, researches related to diversity of social wasps in this country are increasing in number and have covered different regions, environments and biomes

Objectives

Methods

Results