Protopolybia holoxantha Ducke 1904
Creators: name: Dos Santos Junior, José N. A.
name: Silveira, Orlando T.
name: Carpenter, James M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Vespidae
Protopolybia
Protopolybia holoxantha

description: Protopolybia holoxantha (Ducke, 1904)
(Figs 53, 55, 57, 74, 81, 88)
Polybia holoxantha Ducke 1904: 349 (lectotype: ♀ Brasil, Oyapock [Oiapoque], 27.v.1904 (Ducke) (BMNH), designated by Richards (1978); examined).
Protopolybia holoxantha: Ducke 1905b: 675.
Protopolybia holoxantha: Ducke 1910: 477.
Protopolybia holoxantha: Bequaert 1944a: 104.
Protopolybia holoxantha: Richards 1978: 137, 140.
Protopolybia holoxantha: Carpenter & Wenzel 1989: 179, 180.
Diagnosis. Length of fore wing 4.8 mm; cuticle very shiny, vitreous, color essentially yellow (Fig. 57); T1 with petiole narrow; mesoscutum and pronotum with fine punctures (Fig. 53); metanotum triangular, very little produced backwards into propodeum, with apex strongly pointed (Fig. 55).
Redescription. FEMALE. Length of fore wing 4.8 mm; clypeus narrow (HClp=1.09; MxWClp=1.11; TeW=0.79; MiWClp = 0.56 mm), ventral margin narrowly subtruncated; tentorial pit closer to antennal socket than to eye margin; interantennal area narrow, its width approximately equal to diameter of antennal socket; mandibles considerably elongated, with length 0.72 × distance between eyes at vertex; occipital carina distinct, extending for three forth of height of gena; pronotal carina obtuse, visible laterally as protuberance; pronotal fovea distinct; pronotal prominence almost collinear with fovea and pronotal carina; mesoscutum as long as wide; mesepisternal groove absent; scrobal groove abbreviated; scutellum with median line; metanotum triangular, relatively short, with median axis 0.7 × width of central disk; metanotal lobe shiny, short, and with apex sharply pointed (Fig. 55); propodeum gently convex around narrow median groove; T1, longer than wide; T1 notably narrower than T2.
Frons reticulated with fine punctures; mesoscutum with fine punctures (Fig. 53); scutellum and metanotum with fine and sparse punctures; mesopleuron distinctly punctate; metasomal segments impunctate; cuticle shiny, vitreous (Fig. 57); metanotal lobe shiny; eyes glabrous; body with short bristles; long bristles on ventral margin of clypeus, propodeum, metasomal petiole and last metasomal segment.
Yellow, with testaceous marks; antennae, mandibles, clypeus, frons, yellow; pronotum yellow with testaceous marks; mesoscutum yellow and commonly with three orange stripes; tegulae yellow to testaceous; mesopleuron and metapleuron yellow with testaceous marks; scutellum with small spot, mark on propodeum laterally, distal band on T1, basal and distal bands on T2, T3–T5 with distal band, yellow; legs yellow to testaceous; wings hyaline, venation orange.
MALE. Length of fore wing 4.4 mm; eyes enlarged, strongly produced inwards; clypeus very narrow; with elongated and golden bristles on ventral margin; ventral margin narrowly subtruncated and little produced; tentorial pit closer to eye margin than to antennal socket; gena distinctly narrow; color like female. Paramere as long as wide (Fig.74); parameral spine without elongated bristles; basal angle widened; apical angle of paramere acute (Fig. 74); anterior margin of digitus rounded, with short bristles (Fig.81); cuspis with few short bristles; ventral process of aedeagus angular, poorly sclerotized with posterior margin serrated (Fig. 88); pre-apical region of aedeagus not angular.
Material examined. GUYANA: 1 ♀, Kamakusa, ix.1922 (H. Lang) (UFRJ-MN); FRENCH GUIANA: 1 ♀, 16. 746 (UFRJ-MN); BRAZIL: Amapá, 1 ♀, S. do Navio, x.1957 (K. Lenko) (UFPR); Amazonas, 2 ♀, Rio Purus, Beruri, 3°54’S 61°22’W, 17.x.1991 (G.A.R. Melo) (UFPR); Pará, 3 ♀, Juruti, Barroso, 2°29`S 55°58`W, 28.x.2007 (Silva, S.S. e equipe) (MPEG).
Distribution. Guyana, French Guiana, Brazil: AP, AM, *PA.
Remarks. Protopolybia holoxantha presents similar coloration to P. chanchamayensis Bequaert. However, the cuticle is very smooth and shiny.Distribution is restricted to the Amazon region, occurring in French Guiana, Guyana and Brazil with records in the states of Amapá and Amazonas (Richards 1978), and now also in Pará.
description: Published as part of Dos Santos Junior, José N. A., Silveira, Orlando T. & Carpenter, James M., 2015, Phylogeny of Protopolybia Ducke, 1905 and taxonomic revision of the Protopolybia exigua species-group (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae), with description of four new species, pp. 151-182 in Zootaxa 3956 (2) on page 164, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3956.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/237836