Tan Jiang-Li, Van Achterberg Kees, Duan Mei-Jiao, Chen Xue-Xin
Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China (Northwest University), Ministry of Education; School of life Sciences, Northwest University, 229 North Taibai Road, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710069, China.; Email:
Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Dept. Terrestrial Zoology, Postbox 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands.; Email:
Zootaxa. 2014 Apr 4;3785:377-99. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3785.3.3.
The Chinese species of the subgenus Gyrostoma Kirby, 1828 of the polistine genus Polistes are reviewed. An illustrated key to the seven species of the subgenus known from China is given. New synonymy are proposed for Polistes rothneyi Cameron, 1900 =P. rothneyi grahami van der Vecht, 1968, syn. nov.; =P. r. hainanensis van der Vecht, 1968, syn. nov.; =P. r. iwatai van der Vecht, 1968, syn. nov.; =P. r. gressitti van der Vecht, 1968, syn. nov.; =P. r. tibetanus van der Vecht, 1968, syn. nov.; = P. r. yayeyamae Matsumura, 1908, syn. nov.; =P. r. koreanus van der Vecht, 1968, syn. nov.; =P. r. sikkimensis van der Vecht, 1968, syn. nov.. P. (Gyrostoma) tenuispuntia Kim, 2001 is newly recorded from China. Its nest is described for the first time. Compared with the sympatric and similar species P. rothneyi f. grahami the nest is concealed in a hollow space instead of having the nest directly exposed under an eave as in P. rothneyi. The differences in nest architecture are briefly discussed.
