First records of Synoeca septentrionalis Richards, 1978 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini) in the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest.

Abstract

Nests of Synoeca septentrionalis were collected in two Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest localities (Itabuna and Santa Terezinha, in the state of Bahia and Alfredo Chaves in the state of Espírito Santo). Synoeca septentrionalis was previously recorded only from Central America and northwestern South America. This findingextends its geographical distribution to Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil, and represents the first record for Synoeca septentrionalis in the Brazilian Atlantic Rain forest, raising to three the number of Synoeca species known from Bahia State.

Full text

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First records of Synoeca septentrionalis Richards, 1978 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini)
doi: 10.3897/zookeys.151.1882
www.zookeys.org
75
First records of Synoeca septentrionalis Richards, 1978
(Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini) in the Brazilian
Atlantic Rain Forest
Rodolpho S. T. Menezes1, Sergio R. Andena2,, Antonio F. Carvalho1,
Marco A. Costa1
1 Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Rod Ilhéus/Itabuna Km 16,
Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil, 45650-000 2 Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Departamento de Ciências
Biológicas. Av Transnordestina, s/n, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil, 44036-900
Corresponding author: Rodolpho S. T. Menezes (rodolphostm1@hotmail.com)
Academic editor: Michael Ohl  |  Received 4 August 2011  |  Accepted 9 November 2011  |  Published 3 December 2011
Citation: Menezes RST, Andena SR, Carvalho AF, Costa MA (2011) First records of Synoeca septentrionalis Richards,
1978 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini) in the Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest. ZooKeys 151: 75–78. doi: 10.3897/
zookeys.151.1882
Abstract
Nests of Synoeca septentrionalis were collected in two Brazilian Atlantic Rain Forest localities (Itabuna and
Santa Terezinha, in the state of Bahia and Alfredo Chaves in the state of Espírito Santo). S. septentrionalis
was previously recorded only from Central America and northwestern South America. This finding ex-
tends its geographical distribution to Northeast and Southeast regions of Brazil, and represents the first
record for S. septentrionalis in the Brazilian Atlantic Rain forest, raising to three the number of Synoeca
species known from Bahia State.
Keywords
wasps, geographic distribution, Synoeca
Introduction
Synoeca is a small genus of social wasps, with five species described, widely distributed
in Central and South America (Richards 1978; Carpenter and Marques 2001). The
nest architecture is similar in all species: arboreal, usually on a broad slanting surface
and with a single sessile comb attached directly to the tree trunk (Wenzel 1998). The
ZooKeys 151: 75–78 (2011)
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Rodolpho S. T. Menezes et al. / ZooKeys 151: 75–78 (2011)
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genus was recently subject of a phylogenetic analysis, being supported as monophyletic
(Andena et al. 2009).
Although four species of Synoeca have been recorded in Brazil, S. septentrionalis was
previously recorded only from North and Central America (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize,
Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama) and northwestern South
America (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) (Richards 1978; Andena et al.
2009; Cely and Sarmiento 2011). Active nests of S. septentrionalis were discovered and col-
lected in Atlantic Rain Forest in Itabuna (14°47'S, 39°16'W) and Santa Terezinha (12°46'S,
39°31'W), Bahia State, and in Alfredo Chaves (20°38'S, 40°45'W), Espírito Santo State.
The nests collected present a longitudinal groove extending from top to bottom,
and a central-dorsal ridge (Fig. 1). Richards (1978: 181) reported similar nests features
in S. septentrionalis collected in Cali (Colombia). The nest of S. surinama is similar to
S. septentrionalis with a central-dorsal ridge (Castellon, 1980: fig. 5). However, nest of
S. surinama has a keel instead of a groove. The nests were found attached to tree trunks
(Santa Terezinha c. 1,70 m from the ground and two combs; Itabuna c. 6 m from the
ground and one comb) and attached on the rock (Alfredo Chaves c. 2,10 m from the
ground and two combs). Elisei et al. (2005) and Sidnei Mateus (pers. com.) also record-
ed nests of S. cyanea attached on the rock in the states of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso.
Synoeca septentrionalis is easily diagnosed by the presence of the outstanding erect
hairs on the first metasomal tergum and sternum and by a dark triangular area in clypeus
(Richards 1978; Andena et al. 2009). However, variation in the clypeus color pattern
was observed. The nest collected in Santa Terezinha had eight females with clypeus en-
tirely reddish, two females with clypeus reddish with a dorsal dark area, eight males with
clypeus reddish with a triangular dorsal dark area, and five males with the clypeus red-
dish with a dark dorsal area. The specimens collected in Alfredo Chaves (eigth females)
and Itabuna (14 females) had the clypeus entirely reddish. Richards (1978: 181) also
reported variation in clypeus color in specimens collected in Ecuador and Colombia.
Voucher specimens are deposited at Entomological Collections at the Universida-
de Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil and at the Universidade Estadual de Feira
de Santana (MZUEFS), Feira de Santana, Brazil. Despite the male genitalia have been
cited by Richards (1978) and used in a phylogenetic analysis by Andena et al. (2009)
we also provided detailed drawings of this structure (Fig. 2).
This finding extends geographical distribution of S. septentrionalis to Northeast
and Southeast regions of Brazil, and represents the first record for S. septentrionalis in
the Brazilian Atlantic Rain forest, raising to three the number of Synoeca species known
from Bahia State, S. cyanea (Richards 1978; Santos et al. 2007), S. surinama (Richards
1978), and S. septentrionalis.
Geographic distribution of other Epiponini, Epipona media Cooper, previously
described to range from Ecuador, Peru and Brazilian Amazon to the state of Goiás was
recently extended to Atlantic Rain Forest by Menezes et al. (2010). These data suggest
that more exhaustive sampling in this region are needed to provide a diagnosis of the
distribution of species, and a frame of the diversity in the biome of Atlantic Rain Forest
for its preservation.

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First records of Synoeca septentrionalis Richards, 1978 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Epiponini)77
Figure 1. Nest of Synoeca septentrionalis collected in Santa Terezinha in the state of Bahia.
Figure 2. Male genitalia: A paramere B aedeagus in lateral view C aedeagus in ventral view D digitus in
lateral view E cuspis in lateral view. Scale Bar = 0.5 mm.

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Acknowledgements
We thank Franco Edson Silva Dias for assistance during field work. This study was
supported by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior)
and FAPESB (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia). This work is dedi-
cated to late Dr. Kurt M. Pickett, wasp worker and friend.
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