Morfologia Comparada dos lábios de Vespas dos Gêneros Filogeneticamente Basais em Polistinae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

Abstract

In the Neotropics, social wasps are very abundant, playing an important ecological role in the predation of other insects and arthropods. To develop these and other functions related to their own maintenance and that of their offspring, they use their mouthparts. The present work aims to describe morphological variations of the lip in part of the phylogenetically basal genera of Polistinac, Polistes Latreille, Mischocyttarus Saussure, Apoica Lepeletier, Angiopolybia Araújo and Agelaia Lepeletier; to find possible patterns of morphological variation and seek their correlations with the known phylogenies for the subfamily. Nineteen species of polychaetes were studied, two captured at the research campus of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi; four at the Belém Environmental Park; eleven from the MPEG invertebrate collection; and two collected in the municipality of Santo Antonio do Tauá, Pará. All were identified. The lips were removed from the cephalic capsule under a stereomicroscope with entomological forceps, placed in eppendorf tubes containing 70% ethyl alcohol. Drawn freehand, without a clear camera, from various angles. For scanning electron microscopy, the lips were cleaned with fine brush, needles and ultrasound, dehydrated in increasing ethanol battery (70 -100%) and critical point, fixed on metal pins with double-sided tape and metallized. The description and analysis of the data showed the existence of differences in the shape of the mouthpiece, more specifically regarding the number of bristles, morphology of the labial palps and pre-annular area of the glossa. According to the analysis performed, the characters are conflicting as to the indication of groupings, and most of the groupings produced are in poor agreement with known phylogenies.