Charterginus weyrauchi Richards, 1978

Somavilla, Alexandre, Aragão, Marcos, Barroso, Paulo Cézar Salgado, Menezes, Rodolpho Santos Telles & Carpenter, James M., 2023, Taxonomic notes on the genus Charterginus Fox, 1898 (Vespidae: Polistinae: Epiponini) with images of the type specimens and new occurrence records, Zootaxa 5353 (2), pp. 143-152 : 147-149

Charterginus weyrauchi Richards, 1978

( Figures 4 A–B , 8 )

Charterginus weyrauchi Richards, 1978 , Soc. Wasps Am.: 128, female - “ PERU: Huanco [Huánuco], Cordillera Azul, Fazenda Sinchono, 1300 m ” (London)— Kojima and Carpenter, 1998, Entomol. Sci. 1: 420, figs. 16-17 (morphology)— Andena et al., 2009, Journal of Natural History. 43: 1183–1193 (phylogeny, key).

Diagnosis. Length 8.0–9.0 mm., length fore wing 9.0–10.0 mm.

Black species with large yellow spots; clypeus, large spot between antennae, wide upper orbits, gena, narrow posterior margin and wide ventral corners of pronotum, most of metanotum, mesepisternum, sides of propodeum yellow; legs yellow to light brown; tergum I and II black with large yellow preapical band; terga III-VI, and all sternites yellow; tegula brown; antennae black to brownish; wings light fuscous with front half of fore wing darker. Head and mesosoma with long orange pubescence. Head and mesosoma closely and coarsely punctured, metasoma with well-marked but sparse punctation. Clypeus longer than wide, apex truncate; eyes bare; gena narrow, less than half width of eyes; occiput without angular projection; occipital carina dorsal only, not projecting; humeri rounded; tegula nearly three times as long as broad, posterior margin obliquely rounded; metanotum compressed; metanotal tubercle absent; propodeal orifice with sides converging, rounded dorsally; metasomal tergum I petiolate, transversely widened posteriorly, with a distinct preapical transverse carina; tergum II with a distinct apico-discal prominence.

Comments. This is considerably larger than the other species and is easily distinguished by the long orange pubescence on the head and thorax. Some of Weyrauch’s specimens are labelled ‘nest under a Betuca leaf, but no mention of the nest was found in the literature. Here we examined the holotype and nine paratypes from the NHM and additional material from the type locality at the AMNH .

Type material examined: Holotype ♀: PERU: Huánuco, Cordillera Azul, Hacienda Sinchono , 1300 m, Weyrauch (col.) 728. O.W. Richards Coll. Brit. Mus. 1967-510. NHMUK 010817940 ( NHM) . Paratypes: 09 ♀ with same data as holotype ( NHM) .

Additional material examined: PERU: Cordillera Azul , Fazenda Sinchono , 1300 m, Weyrauch (col.), Nest 728 (3♀ AMNH); Fundo Sinoliono , 1300m, Weyrauch (col.) (1♀ AMNH) .

Distribution ( Fig. 8 ): Peru: Huánuco.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Map of the Neotropical Region showing the geographic distribution of Charterginus species.

FIGURES 4–6. 4. Holotype of Charterginus weyrauchi Richards, 1978; 5. Lectotype of Charterginus xanthura (de Saussure, 1854); 6. Holotype of Charterginus zavattarii Richards, 1978. A: lateral view. B: dorsal view.