Vespa Linnaeus 1758
Creators: name: Smith-Pardo, Allan H.
name: Carpenter, James M.
name: Kimsey, Lynn
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Vespidae
Vespa

description: Keys to the Queens and Workers of the Species of Vespa of the World
1 Posterior ocelli about as close to compound eye as to each other (Fig. 2c) ................................................. binghami du Buysson
- Posterior ocelli closer to each other than to compound eye (Fig. 2d)..................................................................................2
2 Apical margin of clypeus with medial tooth between laterally produced margins (Fig. 2e) .............................. analis Fabricius
- Apical margin of clypeus without medial tooth between laterally produced margins (Fig. 2f) ............................................3
3 Gena more than 1.7× medial width of compound eye in side view (Fig. 3a), interocellar distance much less than the distance from ocelli to the vertex..........................................................4
- Gena less than 1.7× medial width of compound eye (Fig. 3b), interocellar distance as long or almost as long as the distance from ocelli to the vertex .........................................................5
4 Metasomal terga 3–6 black, or at most with narrow apical band on tergum 3 (Fig. 3c) ............................ soror du Buysson
- Metasomal segments 3–6 with orange apical band, tergum 6 mostly orange (as in Fig. 3d) ....................... mandarinia Smith
5 Punctures on sides of tergum 2 large, separated by less than one puncture width (Fig. 4a); pronotal carina barely interrupted by pronotal fovea (Fig. 4c) ..........................................................6
- Punctures on sides of metasomal tergum 2 small, separated by more than one puncture diameter (Fig. 4b); pronotal carina widely interrupted by pronotal fovea (Fig. 4d)........................7
6 Clypeus mostly black (Fig. 4e); metasomal terga mostly black or at most with yellow apical band on tergum 1 (Fig. 5a) ............................................................................ fervida Smith
- Clypeus yellow (Fig. 4f); metasomal terga 1–5 often with apical yellow band (Fig. 5b) ............................... luctuosa de Saussure
7 Pretegular carina complete (Fig. 7a); clypeus medially with coarse or large punctures, separated by one puncture diameter or less (Fig. 6c) .......................................................................8
- Pretegular carina incomplete (Fig. 7b); middle of clypeus with small punctures separated more than one puncture diameter (Fig. 6d)................................................................................16
8 Apical margin of clypeus produced into two acute triangular projections (Fig. 8a)................................................................9
- Apical margin of clypeus produced into two broadly rounded projections (Fig. 8b)..............................................................11
9 Vertex black (Fig. 8c) and first three metasomal terga primarily orange-yellow (Fig. 7a) .................... philippinensis de Saussure
- Vertex orange (Fig. 8d) or light brown, if black then orangeyellow coloration restricted to first two metasomal terga (Fig. 7c), or first three metasomal terga black, with at most narrow distal orange-yellow band (Fig. 7d) ..........................10
10 Metasomal terga never entirely black; metasomal tergum 2 with broad orange-yellow band extending one-third or more across tergum (Fig. 7c and d)............................... ducalis Smith
- Metasomal terga all black (Fig. 7f), or metasomal tergum 2 orange-yellow (Fig. 7e), or tergum 2 black with narrow, distal orange-yellow band that extends much less than one-third of tergal width (Fig. 7b).………..........……… tropica (Linnaeus)
11 Metasomal terga 2, 5 and 6 reddish brown or dark brown; tergum 3 and usually tergum 4 mostly yellow, with basal reddish brown band extending medially and two small, lateral reddish brown spots (Fig. 9a and b)................. orientalis Linnaeus
- Metasomal terga coloration not as above .............................12
12 Metasomal segment 1 0.5× as long as or longer than width in dorsal view (Fig. 9c) .............................................................13
- Metasomal segment 1 less than 0.5× as long as wide in dorsal view (Fig. 9d)........................................................................14
13 Scutellar punctures small and separated two puncture diameters (Fig. 10a); metasomal tergum 2 mostly black (Fig. 10c) ........................................................... mocsaryana du Buysson
- Scutellar punctures large and contiguous or separated by 1 puncture diameter or less (Fig. 10b); metasomal tergum 2 usually reddish brown (Fig. 10d), or if metasomal tergum is mostly black then the vertex is also black..... affinis (Linnaeus)
14 Clypeus strongly bulging medially, strongly convex in side view (Fig. 11a) ............................................... fumida van der Vecht
- Clypeus not bulging medially, flat or gently curved in side view (Fig. 11b)..............................................................................15
15 Metasomal segments 3–5 mostly yellow (Fig. 11c); vertex orange-yellow to red ....................................... crabro Linnaeus
- Metasomal segments 3–5 mostly dark brown or black, some segments with narrow distal yellow band (Fig. 11d); vertex reddish to dark brown ........................................ dybowskii André
16 Clypeus (Fig. 12a) and metanotum with dark markings ................................................................ multimaculata Pérez
- Clypeus and metanotum without black markings (Fig. 12b and d)..........................................................................................17
17 Clypeus yellow with black markings (Fig. 12a), or if without markings then metanotum entirely yellow (as in Fig. 12c and d) ................................................................ bellicosa de Saussure
- Clypeus yellow to brown, without black markings (Fig. 12b); metanotum coloration variable (Fig. 12d and e) ...................18
18 Scutellum and metanotum entirely or primarily yellow (Fig. 12d) and vertex black............................. bicolor Fabricius
- Scutellum and metanotum not primarily yellow (Fig. 12e), or if primarily yellow then vertex only partly black......................19
19 Scutal punctures small, separated by 2–3 puncture diameters (Fig. 13a); metasomal terga 2–5 entirely black..... basalis Smith
- Scutal punctures large, separated by 1 puncture diameter or less (Fig. 13b); metasomal terga 2–5 not entirely black ...............20
20 Clypeal punctation uniformly distributed ........ simillima Smith
- Clypeal punctation irregularly distributed, with impunctate areas .....................................................................................21
21 Side of prothorax close to spiracle smooth (Fig. 13c); vertex not black; mesothorax and propodeum with same coloration; terga 2 and 5 black or mostly black................................ vivax Smith
- Side of prothorax close to spiracle rugose (Fig. 13d); without above color combination ………..………...… velutina Lepeletier
description: Published as part of Smith-Pardo, Allan H., Carpenter, James M. & Kimsey, Lynn, 2020, The Diversity of Hornets in the Genus Vespa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Vespinae), Their Importance and Interceptions in the United States, pp. 1-27 in Insect Systematics and Diversity 4 (3) on pages 3-4, DOI: 10.1093/isd/ixaa006, http://zenodo.org/record/3826921