Morphological caste studies in the neotropical swarm-founding Polistinae wasp Angiopolybia pallens (Lepeletier) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).

Neotropical swarm-founding wasps present polygynic colonies and a great variation in relation to caste differentiation, ranging from species in which queens and workers are similar in shape and size to those where variation in shape and size is conspicuous. Canonical discriminant analysis and Bonferroni t-test analysis on morphometric data collected from eight body parts of specimens from nine colonies of Angiopolybia pallens (Lepeletier) were undertaken as a step towards to a better understanding on caste differenciation in Epiponini. All specimens were dissected to verify the ovary developmental stage, and the spermatheca was removed to check for the mating status.

Diversity and community structure of social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in three ecosystems in Itaparica island, Bahia State, Brazil.

We studied the structure and composition of communities of social wasps associated with the three insular ecosystems: mangrove swamp, the Atlantic Rain Forest and the 'restinga'- lowland sandy ecosystems located between the mountain range and the sea. Three hundred and ninety-one nests of 21 social wasp species were collected. The diversity of wasps found in each ecosystem was significantly correlated to the diversity of vegetation in each of the three physiognomies, (r(2) = 0.