Vespa nigrans

Kojima, Jun-Ichi, Saito, Fuki & Nguyen, Lien Thi Phuong, 2011, On the species-group taxa of Taiwanese social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) described and / or treated by J. Sonan, Zootaxa 2920, pp. 42-64 : 54

Vespa nigrans du Buysson 1903 [ Vespa analis Fabricius 1775 ]

Sonan (1929: 141) listed the following specimens: 1 queen and 2 workers, Arisan, 2–23.X.1918 (J. Sonan, M. Yoshino); 2 workers, Horisha, V–VIII.1918 (H. Kawamura); 1 worker, Karenkô, 20.VII–4.VIII.1919 (T. Okuni, J. Sonan, K. Miyake, M. Yoshino); 1 queen, Musha, 18.V–15.VI.1919 (T. Okuni, J. Sonan, K. Miyake, M. Yoshino); 1 worker, Shinchiku, 1–20.VII.1918 (J. Sonan, K. Miyake); 2 queens and 31 workers, Taihoku, 21.VII.1925 (J. Sonan); 1 queen, Yûsho (near Piyanan-anbu) (6000 ft), 3.XI.1928 (J. Sonan). We did not examine these specimens, but judging from Sonan's description of body size and marking pattern his specimens could all belong to V. analis . Sonan (1929) also referred to the median tooth in the apical emargination of female clypeus, the most pronounced characteristic of Ves pa analis ; but it is notable that Sonan mentioned that some specimens lacked this tooth [it was possibly rudimentary but not completely disappeared]. The size of the median tooth is known to be variable ( Bequaert 1939: 37; van der Vecht 1957: 4), occasionally even “small or rudimentary.”

Starr (1992: 103, fig. 16) mentioned that V. analis “is known only from a few medium-elevation localities in the central part of the island [= Taiwan]”, but among the localities recorded by Sonan, “Karenkô”, “Shinchiku” and “Taihoku” are low-elevation localities.