Bionomia de Polistes lanio lanio (Fabricius, 1775) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) no Campus da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro / Bionomy of Polistes lanio lanio (Fabricius, 1775) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) at the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro campus.

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2007

RESUMO

The wasps are holometabolous insects, that is; they have four stages during their life cycle: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The social wasps build their own nest that is usually made of ground wood fibers and some of them may be quite large and complex, depending on the builder species. The nests of Polistes lanio lanio, however, are relatively small and this species nests all the year long. This work aimed to investigate the bionomy of this species and correlate climate factors and seasonal influences to the post-embryonic development of this social wasp. The period of study ranged from January 2002 to August 2006, when eighty-four nests were monitored. The duration of the life cycle of the colony of P. l. lanio was from 36 to 303 days. The shortest egg stage was registered in the summer and the longest in the winter. However, that occurrence was not observed in the stage of larva, the longest in all the seasons, except in the summer. The pupa stage was the shortest in the summer and the longest during the other seasons, while the emergence of adults was the longest in the winter and in the spring and the shortest in the autumn and in the summer. The vespidae foraging behavior during the visits to the inflorescence of a liana (creeper) was observed in the period from January to May, 2002 and in the same period in 2004. It was verified a larger diversity of the genus Polistes while foraging during the period of blooming of the vegetal species Reissekia smilacina (Sm.) Steud (Rhamnaceae) and the foraging activity was more intense in the morning. Twenty colonies of P. l. lanio were used to evaluate the action radius and the return capacity of subordinate queens in foraging activity aiming to determine their foraging area at the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro campus from January, 2004 to June, 2005. The maximum distance of return to the colonies of the subordinate queens with 100% of return rate was 2,050m and theoretical foraging area was 13.2 km2. Aiming to verify the occurrence and to identify species of larval parasitoids of P. l. lanio in order to study the biological interaction between host and parasitoids, seventeen nests were placed in polyethylene vases, in the period from October to September, 2005 while in the period from October, 2005 to May, 2006, eighteen other nests were daily monitored, when attack and collection of parasitoids were observed. Emergence of the following larvae of P. l. lanio was observed: Pachysomoides stupidus (Cresson) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae), Brachymeria vesparum Delvare &Boucek (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) and Microcharops peronatus (Cameron) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Campopleginae), having been collected after the attack to the colonies: P. stupidus, M. peronatus, and Enicospilus sp. (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae, Ophioninae), B. vesparum (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) and Exasticolus fuscicornis Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Homolobinae) and Apanteles sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Microgastrinae). After the elimination of the parasitic cells, the queen continued nesting.

ASSUNTO(S)

forrageamento parasitism zoologia estádio de imaturo forraging immature stage parasitismo

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