TAXONOMIC STUDIES OF HORNET WASPS ( HYMENOPTERA : VESPIDAE ) VESPA LINNAEUS OF INDIA

The members of the genus Vespa Linnaeus are commonly known as Hornet wasps. They are highly evolved social wasps. They built their nest by using wood pulp. They have large colonies consisting of a single female queen, a large number of sterile workers and males. Hornet wasps are mainly distributed in Oriental and Palaearctic Regions of the world. There are 23 valid species known from the world so far of which 16 species from Indian subcontinent and 15 species from India (Carpenter & Kojima, 1997). Economically, hornet wasps can be both beneficial and harmful. They are beneficial as predators of agricultural, forest and hygienic pests. The larvae and pupae of Vespa are utilized as food by man in some parts of the world. They are harmful as they sting human beings and domesticated animals. They are the natural enemies of honey bees and they damage fruits by feeding on them, just prior to harvest.


INTRODUCTION
The members of the genus Vespa Linnaeus are commonly known as Hornet wasps.They are highly evolved social wasps.They built their nest by using wood pulp.They have large colonies consisting of a single female queen, a large number of sterile workers and males.Hornet wasps are mainly distributed in Oriental and Palaearctic Regions of the world.There are 23 valid species known from the world so far of which 16 species from Indian subcontinent and 15 species from India (Carpenter & Kojima, 1997).
Carpenter & Kojima (1997) published the detailed synonyms of each species.So the same is not provided here.Since it is a taxonomic paper, we generally used the term 'Female' instead of 'Queen' and 'Worker' and mentioned  Genus Vespa Linnaeus   1758.Vespa Linnaeus, Syst.Nat., ed.10,1 : 343, 572, Genus  (17 species).
Diagnosis : Large sized wasps usually over 20 mm long; clypeus with short hairs on its apical third only; ocelli small (except in Vespa binghami du Buysson), posterior ocelli at the level of the centre of eyes; vertex and temple comparatively wider; male antenna with tyloids (except in V. binghami du Buysson); occipital carina present laterally and extending to base of mandible, absent dorsally; pronotal carina strong with a pit or a fovea close to its posterior edge in the lower half; fore wing with pre stigma 3x as long as stigma; first cubital cell shorter than the distance between its apex and tip of fore wing; hamuli of hind wing originating before the tip of subcostella.
Van der Vecht (1957Vecht ( , 1959)), Matsuura and Yamane (1990) discussed biology and nest building activities of various Vespa species in detail.temple in profile view more than 1.8x as wide as eye (Fig. 3); posterior ocelli 3x or more than 3x farther from occiput than from eye (Fig. 4) ......... 4 Head normal; temple less than 1.8x as wide as eye (Fig. 12); posterior ocelli less than 3x farther from occiput than from eye (Figs.lines not connected to form aU-shaped mark; gaster largely blackish brown; sixth tergum and sixth sternum yellow; legs brownish black to black; wings infuscate; apical margin of clypeus with broad and deep emargination and forming lateral lobes and with a median triangular tooth projecting half the length of the lateral lobes in females (Fig. 2); in males, the median tooth is rather indistinct or replaced by a short median carina.
Variations : Head sometimes yellow to orange yellow.In one specimen studied from Arunachal Pradesh, thorax more darker, there is no reddish brown parallel marks on mesoscutum anteriorly and scutellum and postscutellum black.
Published records from Tamil Nadu appear to be a misidentification.Published records from Kumaun Hills of Uttar Pradesh is also need to change because Kumaun Hills are now situated in the newly formed Uttarakhand state.
Remarks : This species is not so common.In India, it is distributed in Himalayan ranges.Diagnosis : Head and scape orange red; flagellum black; thorax black; gaster brown with faint yellow apical bands on first to fifth tergites; sixth tergite yellowish brown; wings fuscous brown; area around ocelli without black markings; head strongly widened and produced behind eyes; temple in profile more than 2x as wide as eye (Fig. 3); posterior ocelli more than 3x farther from occiput than from eye (Fig. 4 Distribution : India : Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur (new record), Meghalaya, Mizoram (new record), Sikkim, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.Elsewhere: Bhutan, China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand.

Vespa mandarinia
Records of this species from Sri Lanka appear incorrect (Das & Gupta, 1989).
Remarks : This is the largest hornet wasp in India.
The size of the female is up to 42 mm in length.In India it is widely distributed in Himalayan ranges.Diagnosis : Head orange yellow; clypeus orange; first and second gastral tergites orange with a narrow apical black band (Nguyen & Carpenter, 2002).
Material examined: No specimen studied.
Remarks : This species comes close to Vespa tropica (Linnaeus) but differs in having: (1).Comments : Three distinct colour forms of this species are found in India (Archer et.al., 1988) Nicobar Islands, all the gastral tergites are orange except the first.In the Andaman colour forms, head and thorax with reddish brown markings.
Variations : In one specimen from Tripura, two small black spots present on second tergum submedially.
Another specimen from Tripura, those with predominantly reddish brown head, having a large black area on frons and scutellum completely black.

Material examined:
(1) The Indian color form.Comments: There are three distinct colour forms of this species are found in India.They are as follows : (1) Predominantly black head with first tergite extensively orange yellow colour form : This colour forms are distributed in North eastern India.Bequaert (1936) erected it as a separate subspecies namely Vespa affinis indosinensis (Perez).Thorax entirely black in this colour form.All specimens studied in this colour form having a reddish brown inner orbit.
(2) Predominantly reddish brown head with first tergite extensively orange yellow colour form: This colour forms are distributed throughout mainland India.Bequaert (1936) erected it as a separate subspecies namely Vespa affinis affinis (Linnaeus).In this colour form thorax black except pronotum, tegula and scutellum reddish brown.All specimens studied in this colour form having supraclypeal area black.
(3) Predominantly reddish brown head with a very narrow orange yellow stripe on the apex of first tergite colour form: This colour forms are distributed in southern India.Bequaert (1936) erected it as a separate subspecies namely Vespa affinis continentalis Bequaert.
In some specimens the very narrow orange yellow stripe on first tergite may be incomplete or absent.Thorax entirely black in this colour form.All specimens studied in this colour form having black markings on supraclypeal area and lateral sides of clypeus; mandibles are also black.

Variations :
(1) Predominantly black head with first tergite extensively orange yellow colour form shows the following colour variations : In some specimens tip of mandible reddish brown.In some other specimens the reddish brown markings extended from inner orbits to front, leading to vertex and upper half of temple near occiput.In one specimen from Meghalaya reddish brown marking extended to clypeus submedially.In one specimen from Arunachal Pradesh a large portion of postscutellum reddish brown apically and in another specimen from Arunachal Pradesh having a reddish brown colour on clypeus at apex.(3) Predominantly reddish brown head with a very narrow orange yellow stripe on the apex of first tergite colour form shows the following colour variations: Two specimens from Tamil N adu having more blackish marks on head.Two male specimens from Bengaluru having a small reddish brown spot on pronotum.
Remarks : This is one of the most common and widely distributed hornet wasp throughout the main land of India.2002).
Remarks : This species comes close to Vespa affinis (Linnaeus) but differs in having: (1).Vertex, temple, postscutellum and propodeum sparsely and rather finely punctate and scutellum and metapleuron almost impunctate (in V. affinis punctures on vertex, temple, mesoscutum, scutellum, postscutellum, metapleuron and propodeum small and crowded); (2).Second gastral tergum black or dark brown with almost a narrow yellow to reddish brown apical band (in V. affinis second gastral tergum largely or entirely orange yellow).
Diagnosis: Body brown with clypeus, frons, scape ventrally, apical margin of first gastral tergum narrowly, third and fourth tergites almost entirely, posterolateral corner of second gastral sternum, third sternum almost entirely and fourth sternum partly yellow.Third and fourth tergites with blackish brown spot laterally.The yellow marks on first tergum emarginate medially; third tergum with a median triangular blackish mark basally.Clypeus rather flat and elongate, as wide as long or a little longer (Fig. 8), with scattered moderate sized punctures, in females apical margin emarginate with rounded lateral lobes.Hairs on head and thorax short, sparse, stiff and bristle-like; gaster almost hairless dorsally.
Remarks : This is one of the widely distributed hornet wasp in India.It is especially abundant in Indo-Gangetic plains.This wasp commonly seen in human inhabited areas and usually seen in bazaars attracted to sweets and gur.
Variations : The single specimen studied here having thorax and first gastral segment entirely black.& Gupta (1989) described as follows: Thorax black with two brownish marks on pronotum, a brown mark on outer margin of tegula and first tergum with a brownish yellow narrow and medially interrupted apical band.This colour difference can be considered as variations.

But Das
Material examined: 1 Female, India: West Bengal;Darjeeling Dt.;Pankhasari ridge, 24.xi.1982Remarks : This is one of the very common species distributed in Himalayan ranges.
Elsewhere : China, Myanmar, Nepal, Taiwan and Thailand.Smith (1870)  Variations : Yellowish brown markings on tergites greatly varying.Some specimens from Jammu & Kashmir having tergites almost entirely yellowish brown.Van der Vecht (1959) erected it as a separate subspecies namely Vespa velutina pruthii van der Vecht.Some specimens from Mizoram, Nagaland and Uttarakhand having more blackish tergites.In some specimens, there is no reddish brown marks on mesopleuron below tegula and gaster more blackish.
the terms 'Fertile female' and 'Sterile female' wherever it is necessary.All specimens studied are properly registered and deposited.Most of the specimens are deposited at 'National Zoological Collections' of the Hymenoptera Section, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata (NZSI) and the rest of the specimens are deposited at Arunachal Pradesh Field Station, Zoological Survey of India, Itanagar (APFS/ZSI).

( 2 )
Predominantly reddish brown head with first tergite extensively orange yellow colour form shows the following colour variations : Two specimens from Darjeeling hills of West Bengal having more extended black colouration.The black markings extends to mandibles, clypeus, antennal sockets, area around ocelli extending to vertex and lower half of temple.
originally described this species based on the type specimen collected from Binsar, Kumaun hills of Uttar Pradesh state.Now Binsar of Kumaun hills comes under the newly constituted Uttarakhand state.Remarks : This is not a common hornet wasp.In India it is widely distributed in Himalayan ranges.14.Vespa auraria Smith (Plate 111-12) 1852.Vespa auraria Smith, Trans.Ent.Soc.Land. 2 (2) : 46, pI.VIII, fig.8. 1959.Vespa velutina pruthii van der Vecht, Zooz.Meded., Leiden.36 (13) : 228.Diagnosis : Body black.Reddish brown markings as follows : head, pronotal collar posteriorly, pronotum, tegula, scutellum, two lateral spots on postscutellum, propleuron ventrally and usually a triangular mark on mesopleuron.Antenna reddish or blackish brown.Mandible concolorous with clypeus except at apex including teeth black.Mesoscutum dark brown with a U-shaped mark touching scutellum, with golden brown glistering pubescence.Fore leg yellowish brown except inner basal corner of coxa, trochanter and basally in front of femur black.Mid and hind legs black except at apex of femur, apex of tibia and tarsi entirely reddish brown or yellowish brown.Bases of first and second gastral tergites brownish black or black, their margins and the visible part of the following segments usually yellowish brown.Base of second gastral sternum brownish black or black, their margins and visible part of the following sternites usually yellowish brown.Wings brownish hyaline.Head, thorax and gaster covered with fine blackish erect hairs.Gaster with a velvet appearance.Clypeus moderately convex, its apical third depressed and punctate, apical margin emarginate, with distinct lateral lobes in females and quadrate in males.