Angiopolybia pleuralis

Andena, Sergio R., Noll, Fernando B., Daza, Mario N. & Carpenter, James M., 2024, The phylogeny of the species of the genus Agelaia Lepeletier, 1836, one of the basalmost groups of Epiponini, with notes on male genitalia (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae), American Museum Novitates 2024 (4009), pp. 1-48 : 13-15

THE PLEURALIS GROUP

Silveira and Carpenter (1996) suggested that A. lobipleura , A. cajennensis , A. acreana , and A. brevistigma , based on morphological evidence, would form a monophyletic group supported by the presence of a concave shining area in the malar space (char. 11:1) and an elongate prestigma (char. 55:1). Later, Cooper (2000; 2001) described seven new species, three of which ( A. timida , A. pleuralis , and A. imitatrix ) also share these features, except A. pleurais , which has the prestigma short as found in most species of Agelaia , with the tip truncate or pointed ( Silveira and Carpenter, 1996: 71), however, variation on the size of prestigma was reported by Richards (1978) and Silveira and Carpenter (1996). Cooper (2000: 233) in his description of A. imitatrix pointed out that the grouping of A. lobipleura , A. pleuralis , and A. imitatrix is supported by the lamellate anterior margin of pronotum very wide below the level of the pronotal fovea.

These species, together with A. pleuralis forms a monophyletic group (here called of pleuralis group; see fig. 6), which is supported by not only the characters cited by Silveira and Carpenter (1996), but also by the interocellar space distinctly prominent (char. 21:1); the occipital carina emarginate on the medial region (char. 23:1); the scutum convex and projected anteriorly (char. 39:1); and the propodeal carina extending longitudinally (char. 44:2).

Concerning the tip of prestigma, it seems that the state “rounded” had independent origins for A. acreana and A. cajennensis , but, as with the prestigma, this structure also has intraspecific variations. This is the same case for Angiopolybia pallens , which apparently has the prestigma longer than wide, and the tip rounded, while An. paraensis and An. obidensis have the prestigma as long as wide ( Silveira and Carpenter, 1996). Andena et al. (2007a), in their phylogeny of Angiopolybia species, coded the prestigma “as long as wide” for all species of that genus.

Silveira and Carpenter (1996) proposed that a very weak dorsal pronotal carina for A. lobipleura and A. acreana might be considered a transitional state toward its complete absence in A. cajennesis and A. brevistigma , and then this provides additional support for the mono-

1> 0>1> 1>1> 2> 0>1

phyly of a group comprising these four species. Our phylogeny supports the point of view of Silveira and Carpenter (1996), including A. timida , A. imitatrix , and A. pleurais described by Cooper (2000, 2001) later, which share the same features. The optimization of character 29 (dorsal pronotal carina) is ambiguous for the species of Agelaia as a whole but shows a clear separation from the pleuralis group, which has the dorsal pronotal carina weak or absent (state 0) while component A, with species sharing the dorsal ponotal carina marked (state 1).

As stated above by Silveira and Carpenter (1996), A. lobipleura , A. acreana , A. cajennesis and A. brevistigma , form a monophyletic group (even though a phylogenetic analysis was not performed), with Agelaia acreana and A. lobipleura as sister taxa and these species as sister of A. cajennensis + A. brevistiga would group together, Silveira and Carpenter (1996) followed the grouping proposed by Richards (1978: 241), who cited the similarities between A. brevistigma and A. cajennensis . The proposed grouping of Silveira and Carpenter (1996) would be correct, although the new species described by Cooper (2000) changed the position of those species. Cooper (2000: 184–185) in his description of A. timida stated that he previously identified two nests of this species as A. cajennensis . Actually, both species are very similar and the clade A. cajennensis + A. timida share, in figure 6, the following characters: distance between the tentorial furrow and internal margin of the eyes less than subantennal suture (char. 9:0); subantennal suture marked (char. 10:1); ocelli anterior to declivity of vertex (char. 20:2); carina of pronotal tubercle not covering the entire tubercle (char. 22:1) and positioned on medial region margin (char. 34:1); tip of propodeal valvula subtriangular (char. 48:2) and the tegula with a discal area hyaline (char. 58:1).