Vespa

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 : 57

Vespa 4-maculata Sonan 1929 [ Vespula flaviceps ( Smith, 1870) ]

Type material. Sonan (1929) described this nominal taxon based on the single female with the collection data “Arisan, IV.1914 (Coll. M. Maki)”. In TARI we located a single female (queen) with the labels of “ VI 1914 / Arisan / Col. M. Maki”, “5472”, “ Vespa sp. / Det. T. Shiraki”, “ Vespa / 4-maculata Sonan / Det. J. Sonan”, Type label, and “168”. Although the month of collection given on the label is different from that mentioned in the original description, this specimen should be the HOLOTYPE of Vespa quadrimaculata by monotypy.

Yamane et al. (1980), without examining the types of both V. quadrimaculata and V. k a re n k o n a, synonymized the former under the latter. Based on their observation on colony populations of three nests collected at Kwantauchi in Nantou, they concluded that “ quadrimaculata ” was the queen caste and “ karenkona ” was the worker caste of the same species. Starr (1992: 109), giving “ Vespa karenkona Sonan, 1929: 148 –149 [holotype queen examined]” in the synonym list of Vespula flaviceps , synonymized Vespa quadrimaculata under Vespula flaviceps .