Scientific Name

Vespula flaviceps (Smith, 1870)

Taxonomic Placement

Hymenoptera: Vespoidea: Vespidae: Vespinae: Vespula

Synonyms/Original combination

Vespa japonica de Saussure, 1858: 261.
Vespa flaviceps Smith, 1870: 174, 191.
Vespa “Lewisii, Sauss; Cameron, 1903c: 280.
Vespa Saussurei Schulz, 1906: 231.
Vespa karenkona Sonan, 1929: 137 (key), 148.
Vespa 4-maculata Sonan, 1929: 137 (key), 148.
Vespa vulgaris var. flavior Stolfa, 1934: 49.
Vespula japonica pionganensis Giordani Soika, 1976: 287, 290.
Vespula gracilia Lee, 1986b: 201, 203, 206.

Brief diagnosis

Female: Malar space shorter than the last antennal article. Occipital carina not extending to the base of mandibles. Posterior ocelli close to each other than to eye. Pronotal carina absent. Metacoxa with dorsal longitudinal carina. Hind wing without jugal lobe. Metasoma sessile. T1 abruptly declivous anteriorly. Colour: Body black with extensive yellow markings.

Images

Adult- dorsal view
Adult- lateral view
Adult- frontal view

Distribution

India: Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.
Elsewhere: Myanmar; Nepal; Pakistan. Elsewhere: China; Japan; Korea; Laos; Pakistan; Russia; Taiwan; Thailand; Vietnam.

Distribution within India

References

  • Archer, M.E. (1989) A key to the world species of the Vespinae (Hymenoptera). Research Monographs of the College of Ripon & York St John, 2, 1–41.
  • Barthélémy, C., Lee, J. X. & Kojima, J. (2014) Provisional Distributional Checklist of Hong Kong Social Wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Vespinae, Polistinae, Stenogastrinae). Hong Kong Entomological Bulletin, 6(1), 3–14.
  • Carpenter, J.M. & Kojima, J.I. (1997) Checklist of the species in the subfamily Vespinae (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Natural history bulletin of Ibaraki University, 1, 51–92.
  • Choi, M.B. & Kwon, O. (2015) Occurrence of Hymenoptera (wasps and bees) and their foraging in the southwestern part of Jirisan National Park, South Korea. Journal of Ecology and Environment, 38(3), 367–374.
  • Das, B. P., & Gupta, V.K. (1984) A catalogue of the families Stenogastridae and Vespidae from the Indian subregion (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea). Oriental Insects, 17(1), 395–464.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00305316.1983.10433698
  • Das, B.P. & Gupta, V.K. (1989) The social wasps of India and the adjacent countries. Oriental Insects Monograph, 11, 1–292.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/00305316.1989.11835532
  • Dorji, P., Klein, W. & Nidup, T. (2017a) Taxonomic study of social vespid wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Vespinae & Polistinae) in Bhutan. Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics, 3(2), 91–104.
  • Girish Kumar, P. & Carpenter, J.M. (2018) A taxonomic review of the genus Vespula Thomson (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Vespinae) from the Indian subcontinent. Halteres, 9, 86–110. 10.5281/zenodo.1258043
  • Jonathan, J.K. & Kundu, B.G. (2003) Insecta: Hymenoptera: Vespidae. Zoological Survey of India, State Fauna Series, Fauna of Sikkim, 9(4), 369–392.
  • Kundu, B.G., Girish Kumar, P., Kazmi, S.I. & Roychowdhury, S. (2010) Insecta: Hymenoptera: Aculeata (Vespidae and Apidae). Zoological Survey of India, State Fauna Series, Fauna of Uttarakhand, 18 (2), 725–748.
  • Rafi, M.A., Carpenter, J.M., Qasim, M., Shehzad, A., Zia, A., Khan, M.R., Mastoi, M.I., Naz, F., Ilyas, M., Shah, M. & Bhatti, A.R. (2017) The vespid fauna of Pakistan. Zootaxa, 4362(1), 1–28.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4362.1.1