Protopolybia minutissima ( Spinola, 1851 )

Dos Santos Junior, José N. A., Silveira, Orlando T. & Carpenter, James M., 2017, A new species of the genus Protopolybia Ducke, 1905 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae), with taxonomic contributions to the exigua species-group, Zootaxa 4286 (3), pp. 432-438 : 434-435

Protopolybia minutissima ( Spinola, 1851)

Material examined. ECUADOR: Sucumbios, 6♀, Limoncocha , 06.vii.1971 (M. Naumann) ; BRAZIL: Amazonas, 1♂, 13♀, Presidente Figueiredo , vii.2013 (A. Somavilla) ( INPA) , Acre, 1♀, Rio Branco , 04.x.1998 (S. Mateus) (UNESP- IBILCE).

Distribution. Surinam; French Guiana; Ecuador (Napo), Peru (Junín), Brazil (Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Acre), Mexico.

Remarks. The last revision of the group included only new collection records and annotations about its distribution. According to Santos-Junior et al. (2015), P. minutissima is similar to P. similis , particularly with regard to the width of the clypeus and shape of the occipital carina, which extends to the insertion of the mandible. The male and its genitalia are here described, and the cited revision provides additional traits for the identification of P. minutissima .

MALE (hitherto unknown). Length of fore wing 4.2 mm; eyes wide, strongly produced inwards; clypeus very narrow, with elongate silvery bristles ( Fig. 9 ); ventral margin narrowly curverd; tentorial pit closer to eye margin than to antennal socket; gena very narrow ( Fig. 10 ); mandibles black; color like female. Parameral spine without elongate bristles; basal and apical angles of paramere widened ( Fig. 11 ); digitus narrow with apical margin approximately rounded and with sparse bristles; basal process not acuminate ( Fig. 14 ); cuspis with few and sparse bristles; ventral process of aedeagus not laterally projecting ( Figs 12, 13 ), strongly sclerotized and weakly serrated; preapical region of aedeagus not angular in lateral view.

Regarding the apex of the aedeagus, its shape is sharply expanded laterally, forming two lobes in common with other species of the P. exigua species-group, such as P. bituberculata , P. diligens and P. clypeata ( Santos-Junior et al. 2015) . Furthermore, a dorsal view of the aedeagus also revealed a median emargination, a trait that seems to be a synapomorphy of the genus, although this is less developed in P. holoxantha ( Ducke 1904) and P. bituberculata .

Figures

FIGURES 9 – 14. Protopolybia minutissima, ♂. 9. Head, frontal view; 10. Lateral view; 11. Paramere of male genitalia; 12. Aedeagus, ventral view; 13. Aedeagus, lateral view; 14. Volsella, lateral view. Scale for 11 – 14 = 0.2 mm.