Apoica (Apoica) pallida (Olivier)

PICKETT, KURT M. & WENZEL, JOHN W., 2007, Revision and Cladistic Analysis of the Nocturnal Social Wasp Genus, Apoica Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae, Epiponini), American Museum Novitates 3562 (1), pp. 1-32 : 24-25

Apoica (Apoica) pallida (Olivier)

Vespa pallida Olivier, 1792: 675 , female—‘‘l’isle de la Trinite´’’ (type lost).

Apoica lineolata Lepeletier, 1836 , Hist. Nat. Ins. Hym. 1: 537, female? —[ Argentina] ‘‘ Buenos-Ayres, Amérique méridionale’’ (type lost?).

Polistes translucida Spinola, 1851: 63 —[ Brazil] ‘‘Para’’ (Torino?).

Apoica pallida ; de Saussure, 1854: 107, pl. XVIII fig. 1 (syn.: P. pallens Fabricius ). Apoica virginea ; de Saussure, 1854: 107 (syn.: Apoïca bilineolata [!]), 244 [partim]. (misidentification).

Vespa pallens ; Dalla Torre, 1904: 79 [lapsus].

Apoica lineata [!]; du Buysson, 1906: 359.

Apoica pallida var. virginea ; Ducke, 1910: 517, fig. 11 .

Apoica pallida pallida ; Araújo, 1960: 251.

DISTRIBUTION: Belize; Bolivia: La Paz, Santa Cruz ; Brazil: Acre, Amapá , Amazonas, Ceará, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, São Paulo; Colombia; Ecuador: Pichincha ; French Guiana; Guyana; Peru: Huánuco, Junín, Loreto, Pasco; Trinidad; Suriname ; Venezuela: Aragua, Monagas .

MATERIAL EXAMINED: BRAZIL : Pará , Santarem, Taperinha, 2d 54m S, 54d 20 W, 30 X 1978 , R. L. Jeanne ( BMNH, 1 female); BRAZIL , Pará, Belém , 10.7.64 ( BMNH, 1 female); SURINAM : Marowijne River , vii.1965, E.A.M. Gale, ‘‘ Cambridge Exped. ’’ ( BMNH, B.M 1965-516, 1 female); ECUADOR : Pichincha, n. Nanegal , 19– 20.ix.1977 ( BMNH, 2 females); Bresil : Pará , Belém Mocambo, 23-viii01978 , R B Neto ( BMNH, 1 female); PERU , Loreto, Pucallpa , lake Yarina Cocha, 26–27.viii.1971, C. & M. Vardy ( BMNH, B.M. 1971-533, 1 female); TRINIDAD , St. George , St. Augustine, 16.iv.1976, J.S. Noyes ( BMNH, 1 female); TRINIDAD , Toco , 11.xi.90, det. Apoica pallida, A. Polazsek 1992 ( BMNH, 1 female); SURINAM , 1932, G. Bunzli ( BMNH, 1 female); TRINIDAD , 14.IV.1937, Miss M.E. Fountaine, ( BMNH, B.M. 1937-434, 1 female); Trinidad : Curepe , 17-5-1986, E. D. Bennet ( BMNH, 1 female); Guyana: Berbice , CEIBA Biological Sta. , 06d 18m N, 60d 35m W, 6 March 1997 (personal coll. J. H. Hunt, 1 female); Guyana: Berbice , CEIBA Biological Sta. , 06d 18m N, 60d 35m W, 5 March 1997 (personal coll. J. H. Hunt, 1, female); Guyana: Berbice , Dubulay Ranch , 05d 21m N, 57d 60m W, 8–11 March 1997 (pers. coll. J. H. Hunt, 1 female); TRINIDAD , St. George , St. Augustine, iv.1977 ( BMNH, 1 female); SURINAME : Maratakka River , Awarra-savanna, 26.II- 3.III.1971, D.C. Geijskes, det. Apoica pallida , J.v.d. Vecht, 1971 ( RMNH, 2 females); Suriname : ‘‘ Marowijnecreek’ ’, 29 July 1964, D.C. Geijskes, det. Apoica pallida , J.v.d. Vecht, 1971 ( RMNH, 1 female); Suriname : Zorgen Hoop , Paramaribo, 10 Okt 1963, J.W. Brockhuizen, det. Apoica pallida , J.v.d. Vecht, 1967, 55 ( RMNH, 5 females) ;

Suriname, Paramaribo, 1 Nov 1963, J.W. Brockhuizen, det. Apoica pallida , J.v.d. Vecht , 1967 ( RMNH, 1 female) ; Suriname, Luciekamp, 13 July 1963, H. P. Pijpers, det. Apoica , pallida, J.v.d. Vecht , 1971 ( RMNH, 1 female) .

Although the type of A. pallida has been lost, and although the concept has had a convoluted history, we do not think the situation requires the designation of a neotype. The ICZN states (Article 75.2, page 84):

A neotype is not to be designated as an end in itself, or as a matter of curatorial routine, and any such neotype designation is invalid.

A valid neotype designation requires that, in addition to the loss of the name-bearing type, there be an ‘‘exceptional need’’ to solve ‘‘a complex zoological problem’’ (Article 75.3, page 84–85). At a minimum, the identity of the species must be in doubt, and this is not the case for A. pallida .

Figures

Fig. 1. Ocelli: A, Polistes fuscatus, typical (small); B, Apoica ambracarina, large. Scale bars 5 1.0 mm.

Fig. 11. Digitus contact with cupsis: Dark spots appearing on both digitus and cuspis correspond to places of potential contact. A, Apoica albimacula, unmodified relative to other Polistinae, expanded posteriorly (see above), the region of the digitus that is positionally most similar to the apical tip of the digitus in other Apoica (indicated by arrows) contacts the cuspis; B, Apoica thoracica, representing the modified, restricted digitus shape, contacting apically; C, Apoica pallida, contacting medially, with the tip extending freely beyond the body of the cuspis. Scale bars 5 1.0 mm.