Hey, hold on, we are good guys! Colony defense behavior and notes on nesting of Parachartergus fulgidipennis (de Saussure, 1854) (Vespidae: Polistinae: Epiponini)

Abstract

Parachartergus wasps are known by having a very aggressive behavior, especially the large black species with white wings tip, which have painful stings. They exhibit a unique and interesting characteristic, the capacity to venom spraying during the colony defense or self-defense. However, for the Amazonian species Parachartergus fulgidipennis (de Saussure, 1854), little is known about its behavior and nesting. In this way, we tracked and described the nesting site, the numbers of combs, and performed an ad libitum method to record behavioral activities. The nest was fixed vertically on a man-made concrete column, 1.2 m above the ground, measuring 25.0 x 6.0 cm and contained four combs with approximately 74 cells, with 31 eggs, seven larvae, 30 pupae, and almost 42 adults. With a flat thin grayish envelope with weak corrugations, the nest is very similar to the color of the substrate which turn in to really cryptic. The colony defense behavior presented by this species is unaggressive and very docile, suggesting that is not similar as observed for other Parachartergus species.

Keywords

• Aggressiveness; Behavior; Hymenoptera; Social wasps; Swarm-founding