Contribution to the knowledge of vespid wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) of the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve (Russian Far East)

An annotated list of Vespidae wasps of the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Nature Reserve contains 28 species, belonging to 10  genera and 3  subfamilies, is given. The species annotations include localities and description of habitats. The present list is not final in our opinion. For comparison, 37  species from 11  genera inhabit Sakhalin Island, and 47 species from 13 genera are known in Lasovsky Nature Reserve in Primorsky Region of Russia. Comlex of Eastern-Asian species includes Vespula shidai, Vespa simillima, Polistes snelleni, P.  diakonovi, P.  riparius, Eumenes septentrionalis, Symmorphus mizuhonis, Ancistrocerus densepilosellus, A.  japonicus, Stenodynerus pappi, Stenodynerus frauenfeldi. Some of these species were registered in Russia only on south of Primorsky Region (Ancistrocerus japonicus, Stenodynerus pappi, Polistes diakonovi). The territory of the Sikhote Alin Reserve is probably a north border of the ranges of these species. The complex of these Eastern-Asian species is not homogeneous and includes several groups belonging to different by origin faunas. For example, ranges of narrow-local Korean and Korean-Japanese Sikhote-Alin subendemic species (Stenodynerus pappi, Polistes diakonovi, Ancistrocerus japonicus, Vespula shidai) are limited by territories near the Sea of Japan (Korean Peninsula, Japanese Islands, Southern Kuril Islands, the eastern part of Sikhote-Alin). Other species of the Eastern Asian complex have wider ranges and are widespread in Southern and South-Eastern Siberia, Mongolia, Korea and Central China. For example, Polistes snelleni is distributed to the Transbaikal region and Yenisei River to the west, and the East Asian Polistes riparius is distributed to the southwest of the West Siberian Plain (Kurgan Region of Russia). The following rare species with a narrow ranges were registered in the Sikhote-Alin Reserve: Stenodynerus pappi, Polistes diakonovi, Ancistrocerus japonicus and Vespula shidai. Two species were common and numerous: Ancistrocerus trifasciatus and Symmorphus bifasciatus. The main faunistic groups and eco-landscape complexes of wasps were identified using a zoogeographical analysis of species. The eco-landscape complex of 15 widespread forestly mesophilous species leads by the number of species on the territory of the Sikhote-Alin Reserve. Dendrophilous and tamno-dendrophilous cavity-nesting wasps is the dominant ecological group in the reserve

The nesting of the relict wasp, Discoelius dufourii Lepeletier, 1841 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae): nest structure, nest building and hunting activity

The results of the nest structure research and patterns of nesting behavior of a rare transpalaearctic species, Discoelius dufourii Lepeletier 1841 are presented. Females build nests in deep and narrow pre-existing cavities. The nests of D. dufourii are linear outgoing type with incomplete cells which have uncertain dimensional structure. The walls between cells consist of two parts: friable obstruction of leave pieces which is fastened to diametrical membrane from the similar leaves chewed. Nests contain progeny of both sexes. Female cells come before the cells with males. Each D. dufourii female builds a certain number of nests. Each subsequent nest has lesser number of cells and higher ratio of male progeny. Sex ratio of larvae in all D. dufourii nests is equal. The egg is hung up to the ceiling of an empty cell near its proximal end. The larval food consists of paralyzed caterpillars of Anacampsis (Gelechiidae). The different number of caterpillars (7–11 in female cells and 3–5 in male cells) determines sex difference in wasp progeny. Relict features in the structure of D. dufouriinests are: walls between cells consist of friable cell obstructions, the location of walls between cells is not fixed in the nest cavity, in some cells food is mixed with building material. Females of D. dufourii can inhabit Fabre-type hives but do not demonstrate any tendency to repeated nesting