Polistes sulcifer
| Cuckoo Wasp | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Vespidae |
| Genus: | Polistes |
| Species: | P. sulcifer |
| Binomial name | |
|
Polistes sulcifer (Zimmerman, 1930) |
|
Polistes sulcifer is a species of paper wasp in the genus Polistes that is found in Italy and Croatia. It is one of only three known Polistes obligate social parasites, sometimes referred to as "cuckoo paper wasps", and its host is the congeneric species Polistes dominula. Because it is an obligate social parasite, this species has lost the ability to build nests, and relies on the host workers to raise its brood.P. sulcifer females use brute force, followed by chemical mimicry in order to successfully usurp a host nest and take over as the queen.
Polistes is the only genus in the tribe Polistini of the subfamily Polistinae. Species in this subfamily are one of several lineages often known as paper wasps.Polistes sulcifer, first named by Zimmerman in 1930, is a member of the monophyletic species group once known as Sulcopolistes, which contains only three species (the others being Polistes atrimandibularis and Polistes semenowi), all of them obligate social parasites on other Polistes species.P. sulcifer was mistakenly thought to be an entirely different genus but was incorporated into Polistes by Carpenter in 1991. Additionally, this species group is phylogenetically close to Polistes dominula, the only host species of P. sulcifer.
Polistes sulcifer, like most other paper wasps, are typically 0.7-1.0 inches long. Because it is a social parasite, it is adapted for fighting off the host species, and has some morphological distinctions.P. sulcifer is known to have larger mandibles and anterior legs than those of related species. It also has a more square-shaped head, which is hypothesized to have evolved from the need for robust muscles to power the larger mandibles. Additionally, there is often a black band in the lower half of the clypeus. This trait in particular distinguishes it from its host species P. dominula.P. sulcifer males typically have a more complete coloration of the body than the females, with the colors ranging from yellow to almost white.
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