''Brachygastra lecheguana'' (Latreille 1824), formerly known as ''Nectarina lecheguana'',Bequaert, J. Q. (1932). "The Nearctic social wasps of the subfamily polybiinae (Hymenoptera; Vespidae)". ''Entomologica Americana''. 13 (3): 87-150. is a species of dark

paper wasp Paper wasps are vespid wasps that gather fibers from dead wood and plant stems, which they mix with saliva, and use to construct nests made of gray or brown papery material. Some types of paper wasps are also sometimes called umbrella wasps, d ...

Alves-Silva, E.; Baronio, G. J.; Torezan-Silingardi, H. M. & Del-Claro, K. (2013). "Foraging behavior of ''Brachygastra lecheguana'' (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) on '' Banisteriopsis malifolia'' (Malpighiaceae): Extrafloral nectar consumption and herbivore predation in a tending ant system". ''Entomological Science''. 16: 162-169. found across Central and South America. It nests in underbrush in grassland-type environments, and produces

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

, characteristic of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Brachygastra Honey wasps are species in the genus ''Brachygastra'' of the family Vespidae. ''Brachygastra'' comprises 17 species of social paper wasps. The Ancestor, ancestral species are thought to have diverged about 32 million years ago within diverse Amaz ...

''.

Names

Common names include marimbondo-do-campo, marimbondo-do-pasto,Henrique-Simões, M.; Cuozzo, M. D. & Frieiro-Costa, F. A. (2011)
"Social wasps of Unilavras/Boqueirão Biological Reserve, Ingaí, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil"
Check List: ''Journal of Species Lists and Distribution''. 7 (5). marimbondo-exu, marimbondo-de-pote, marimbondo-de-purrão, and avispa-de-pote,Costa Neto, E. M. (2004)
"La etnoentomología de las avispas (Hymenoptera, Vespoidea) en el poblado de Pedra Branca, estado de Bahia, nordeste de Brasil"
. ''Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa''. 34: 247-262. among others depending on the location. It is called tu in the

Kwaza language Kwaza (also written as Kwazá or Koaiá) is an endangered Amazonian language spoken by the Kwaza people of Brazil. Kwaza is an unclassified language. It has grammatical similarities with neighboring Aikanã and Kanoê, but it's not yet clea ...

of Rondônia, Brazil.Manso, Laura Vicuña Pereira. 2013.
Dicionário da língua Kwazá
'. M.A. dissertation.

Guajará-Mirim Guajará-Mirim is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. It is located at an altitude of 128 meters. Its population was 46,556 (2020) and its area is 24,856 km².IBGE /ref> Location Guajará-Mirim lies along the Mamoré River, j ...

Federal University of Rondônia The Federal University of Rondônia ( pt, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, UNIR) is located in the state of Rondônia, in Brazil. It is the only public university in Rondônia. Campuses The Federal University of Rondônia has 8 campuses loca ...

Taxonomy

''B. lecheguana'' belongs to the Epiponini tribe of

Polistinae The Polistinae is a subfamily of eusocial wasps belonging to the family Vespidae. They are closely related to the more familiar wasps (“ yellowjackets” as they are called in North America) and true hornets of the subfamily Vespinae, contai ...

wasps,Noll, F. B.; Wenzel, J. W. & Zucchi, R. (2004)
"Evolution of caste in Neotropical swarm-founding wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Epiponini)"
''American Museum Novitates''. 3467: 1-24. sometimes referred to as Polybiinae wasps. It is a Neotropical social wasp species that falls under the genus ''Brachygastra''. ''

'' wasps are identified, as noted in Andena and Carpenter (2012), by an anatomical projection over their posterior. The scutellum,

metanotum The metathorax is the posterior of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the third pair of legs. Its principal sclerites ( exoskeletal plates) are the metanotum (dorsal), the metasternum (ventral), and the metapleuron (lateral) ...

, and

propodeum The propodeum or propodium is the first abdominal segment in Apocrita Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants). It is fused with the thorax to form the mesosoma. It is a single large sclerite A sclerite (Greek , ', meaning " hard") is a hardened bod ...

, three of the

hymenopteran Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typica ...

back structures, combined form a flat, vertical surface in the middle of the body (

mesosoma The mesosoma is the middle part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the metasoma. It bears the legs, and, in the case of winged insects, the wings. In hymenopterans of ...

).Andena, S. R. (2012)
"A phylogenetic analysis of the social wasp genus ''Brachygastra'' Perty, 1833, and Description of a new species (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Epiponini)"
''American Museum Novitates''. 3753: 1-38 ''B. lecheguana'' is very closely related to '' B. mellifica'' and '' B. borellii'', and indeed some authors suggest that ''B. lecheguana'' and ''B. mellifica'' can only be differentiated based on where they are found with respect to their reported distribution throughout the Americas. However, there are morphological and genetic differences between these species.details of the citationZhu, Y.; Queller, D. C. & Strassman, J. E. (1999)
"A phylogenetic perspective on sequence evolution in microsatellite loci"
''Journal of Molecular Evolution''. 50: 324-338.

History of study

''Brachygastra lecheguana'' was first described by

Pierre André Latreille Pierre André Latreille (; 29 November 1762 – 6 February 1833) was a French zoologist, specialising in arthropods. Having trained as a Roman Catholic priest before the French Revolution, Latreille was imprisoned, and only regained his freedom ...

in 1824. It was originally named ''Nectarina lecheguana'', and the switch from ''Nectarina'' to ''Brachygastra'' as a name for this genus was not standard in the scientific literature until the 1940s. Between 1824 and 1943, this species was documented as a member of the following genera: ''

Polistes Wasps of the cosmopolitan genus ''Polistes'' (the only genus in the tribe Polistini) are the most familiar of the polistine wasps, and are the most common type of paper wasp in North America. Walter Ebeling coined the vernacular name "umbrella ...

'', ''

Vespa Vespa () is an Italian luxury brand of scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy to ...

'', ''

Nectarinia ''Nectarinia'' is a genus of birds in the sunbird family, Nectariniidae. What species belong to it has been highly contentious for many decades. Towards the late 20th century, the dominant trend was to use it to group all "typical" sunbirds. More ...

'' (a misspelling of ''Nectarina'', and a misuse of this genus of birds), ''Brachygaster'' (another misspelling, and a misuse of this genus of parasitic wasp), ''Melissaia'', and ''Caba''. In 1923, Bequeart performed a survey of the literature on this species, compiling accounts and descriptions by entomologists Ferdinand de Saussure,

Hermann von Ihering Hermann Friedrich Albert von Ihering (9 October 1850 – 24 February 1930) was a German-Brazilian zoologist. He was the oldest son of Rudolf von Jhering. Biography Hermann Friedrich Albert von Ihering was born in 1850 in Kiel, Germany, the old ...

, and du Buysson among numerous others, creating a source of descriptive information on this species. One study has focused on the morphological caste differentiation of ''B. lecheguana''Shima, S. N.; Noll, F. B. & Zucchi, R. (2000). "Morphological caste differences in the Neotropical swarm-founding Polistine wasp, ''Brachygastra lecheguana'' (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae, Epiponini)". ''Sociobiology''. 36 (1): 41-52. and another directly studied its foraging behavior. While not the focus, ''B. lecheguana'' has been included in studies of groups of wasps known to be natural enemies of agricultural pests,Fernandes, F. L.; Da Silva, P. R.; Gorri, J.; Pucci, L. F. & Da Silva, I. W. (2013)
"Selectivity of old and new organophosphate insecticides and behavior of Vespidae predators in coffee crop"
''Sociobiology''. 60 (4): 471-476.Gusmão, M. F.; Picanço, M.; Alfredo, H. R. G. & Moura, M. F. (2000)
"Selectividade fisiológica de insecticidas a vespidae predadores do bicho-mineiro-do-cafeeiro"
''Pesquisa Agropecuária Brasileira''. 35 (4): 681-686.Reis Jr., R.; DeSouza, O. & Vilela, E. F. (2000)
"Predators impairing the natural biological control of parasitoids"
''Anais da Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil''. 29 (3): 507-514. and has been documented in a number of papers cataloging flower visitation by insects and birds.Santos, G. M. D. M.; Aguiar, C. M. L. & Gobbi, N. (2006)
"Characterization of the social wasp guild (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) visiting flowers in the Caatinga (Itatim, Bahia, Brazil)"
''Sociobiology''. 47 (2): 1-12.Traveset, A.; Heleno, R.; Chamorro, S.; Vargas, P.; McMullen, C. K.' Castro-Urgal, R.; Nogales, M., Herrera, H. W. & Olesen, J. M. (2013)
"Invaders of pollination networks in the Galápagos Islands: emergence of novel communities"
''Proceedings of the Royal Society B''. 280: 1-9.

Description and identification

Bequaert provides a detailed description of the anatomy and features of ''B. lecheguana''. This species is black, with an abdomen colored with yellow stripes, having patches on the

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...

and head colored yellow as well. The abdomen is wide and truncate, and nests are globular, gray, and close to the ground. Queens and workers were recorded to be ~7.5–9 mm long and males ranged from ~7.5–8 mm in length. ''B. lecheguana'' can be differentiated from '' B. mellifica'' based on the male reproductive anatomy; in ''B. lecheguana'' the males have an apically wide digitus while that of ''B. mellifica'' males is relatively narrow.

Distribution and habitat

''B. lecheguana'' is found across Central and South America, ranging from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. This species has been observed a couple times as far north as

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, but tends to be rare north of Mexico.

Nests A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

are oval, about the size of a human head, made of gray paper-like material, and close to the ground. Bequeart includes a lengthy description of the construction process for one of these nests in his 1932 publication on Polybiinae wasps. Nests are located in undergrowth, and it appears that these wasps prefer more

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

locations characterized by open, less humid, grassland environments.Hermes, M. G. & Köhler, A. (2006)
"The flower-visiting social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae) in two areas of Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil"
''Revista Brasileira de Entomologia''. 50 (2): 268-274.De Souza, M. M.; Pires, E. P. & Prezoto, F. (2014)
"Seasonal richness and composition of social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) in areas of cerrado biome in Barroso, Minas Gerais, Brazil"
''Bioscience Journal''. 30 (2): 539-545.

Colony cycle

As a member of the polistine wasp tribe Epiponini, ''B. lecheguana'' is a swarm-founding species. Their nests are polygynous, with reproductively active females numbering anywhere from 1% to possibly even 17% of a colony.Sugden, E. A. & McAllen, R. L. (1994)
"Observations on foraging and nest biology of the Mexican honey wasp, ''Brachygastra mellifica'' (Say) in Texas (Vespidae: Polybiinae)"
''Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society''. 67 (2): 141-155. Reports of the total number of individuals in a given colony have been recorded by a couple different sources ranging from 13800 to 15000, although it appears that a limited number of colony counts are documented in the scientific literature. The male to female ratio was reported as 0 in a colony collected in May, 1:15 in a colony collected in January, and 1:1 in a colony observed in the fall. Nests are recorded to be

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

, often lasting several years. New

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

are formed in the spring when several fertile queens, accompanied by a few worker wasps in a swarm, establish new nest sites.

Caste differences

In a study that characterized the morphological difference between different

castes Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

in ''B. lecheguana'', researchers used ovary development to classify individuals as workers, queens, or "intermediates". Workers had either undeveloped or slightly developed ovaries, and constituted around 39% of the study's pool of individuals, while queens, with well developed ovaries containing 6-12

oocytes An oocyte (, ), oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female g ...

, accounted for around 0.7% of the individuals. A third group, with moderately developed ovaries containing 1-5 oocytes, was identified as an intermediate caste and accounted for around 60.3% of the colony. While the ovaries belonging to queen individuals had evidence of

insemination Insemination is the introduction of sperm into a female’s reproductive system for the purpose of impregnating, also called fertilizing, the female for sexual reproduction. The sperm is introduced into the uterus of a mammal or the oviduct of a ...

, there was no detectable sperm in the reproductive organs of the intermediate individuals. Anecdotal accounts of ''B. lecheguana'' nests suggest that queens are larger than workers. However it appears that a more careful statistical analysis indicates that there is no overall size difference between queens, workers, or intermediates. There is no difference in overall size, but the queens have a set of anatomical proportions distinct from the intermediates and workers, smaller in some structures and larger in others. While it appears that caste might be discernible through ovary development, the absence of morphological differences between individuals in ''B. lecheguana'' suggests that there is no meaningful morphological caste. However it is clear that individuals can be designated reproductives and nonreproductives.

Mimicry

Bequaert describes the extensive color and shape similarities between ''B. lecheguana'' and a number of other species with the word "homeochromic" instead of "

mimic MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in ...

". He lists a number of vespid wasps and

potter wasp Potter wasps (or mason wasps), the Eumeninae, are a cosmopolitan wasp group presently treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae. Recognition Most eumenine species are black or brown, ...

s belonging to the genera '' Pachodynerus'', '' Odynerus'', and ''

Ancistrocerus ''Ancistrocerus'' is a widely distributed genus of potter wasps present in many biogeographical regions of the world. They are nonpetiolate eumenine wasps with a transverse ridge at the bending summit of the first metasomal tergum A ''ter ...

'', and several crabronid wasps of the genera ''Gorytes'' and '' Cerceris''. Along with wasps, there are several bee species that are homeochromic, including

mason bee Mason bee is a name now commonly used for species of bees in the genus ''Osmia'', of the family Megachilidae. Mason bees are named for their habit of using mud or other "masonry" products in constructing their nests, which are made in naturally ...

s of the genera ''

Megachile The genus ''Megachile'' is a cosmopolitan group of solitary bees, often called leafcutter bees or leafcutting bees; it also includes the called resin bees and mortar bees. While other genera within the family Megachilidae may chew leaves or pet ...

'', '' Anthidiellum'', ''

Hypanthidium ''Hypanthidium'' is a genus of bees belonging to the family Megachilidae Megachilidae is a cosmopolitan family of mostly solitary bees. Both that their pollen-carrying structure (called a ''scopa'') is restricted to the ventral surface of th ...

'', '' Dianthidium'', and the species '' Stelis costaricensis'',

cuckoo bees The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitic behaviour of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behavior of cuckoo birds. The name is perhaps best applied to ...

belonging to the genus ''

Epeolus ''Epeolus'' is a genus of cuckoo bees of the tribe Epeolini, the subfamily Nomadinae part of the honey bee family Apidae. They are often known as variegated cuckoo-bees. Biology The species within ''Epeolus'' are medium-sized bees with bright pa ...

'', stingless ''

Trigona ''Trigona'' is one of the largest genera of stingless bees, comprising about 32 species, exclusively occurring in the New World, and formerly including many more subgenera than the present assemblage; many of these former subgenera have been el ...

'' bees, and sweat bees from the genus ''

Halictus The genus ''Halictus'' is a large assemblage of bee species in the family Halictidae. The genus is divided into 15 subgenera, some of dubious monophyly, containing over 200 species, primarily in the Northern Hemisphere (a few species occur in So ...

''. He also lists a soldier fly of the genus '' Stratiomys'' as a homeochromic species. While ''B. lecheguana'', Bequaert suggests, is the most abundant in this group of homeochromic species, he does not make the claim that these similarities arose from mimicry in the classic sense, but he suggests that further research would be helpful.

Diet

Nectar

''B. lecheguana'' is known to visit a number of plants to obtain nectar resources. This wasp has been documented visiting the flowers of ''

Baccharis ''Baccharis'' is a genus of perennials and shrubs in the aster family (Asteraceae). They are commonly known as baccharises but sometimes referred to as "brooms", because many members have small thin leaves resembling the true brooms. They are ...

'' spp.,Freitas, L. & Sazima, M. (2006). "Pollination biology in a tropical high-altitude grassland in Brazil: interactions at the community level". ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden''. 93 (3): 465-516. ''

Erythrina crista-galli ''Erythrina crista-galli'', often known as the cockspur coral tree, is a flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, native to Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil and Paraguay. It is widely planted as a street or garden tree in other countries, no ...

'',Galetto, L.; Bernardello, G.; Isele, I. C.; Vesprini, J.; Speroni G. & Berduc, A. (2000)
"Reproductive biology of ''Erythrina crista-galli'' (Fabaceae)"
''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden''. 87 (2): 127-145. ''

Ziziphus cotinifolia ''Ziziphus'' is a genus of about 40 species of spiny shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, distributed in the warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of the world. The leaves are alternate, entire, with three promi ...

'', '' Solanum paniculatum'', '' Sidastrum paniculatum'', and '' Erythroxylon catingae'' and more. In addition to obtaining nectar from flowers, ''B. lecheguana'' has been reported as a visitor of extrafloral nectaries on such species as '' Banisteriopsis malifolia''.

Predation

This wasp does not rely solely on nectar for food; it is a well-documented predator of a number of different

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

species.Reyes-Rosas, M. A.; López-Arroyo, J. I.; Buck, M. & Loera-Gallardo, J. (2011)
"First report of a predaceous wasp attacking nymphs of ''Diaphorina citri'' (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), Vector of Hlb"
''Florida Entomologist''. 94 (4): 1075-1077. Among its prey are beetles of the genus '' Anthonomus'' and the coffee leaf miner '' Leucoptera coffeella''. It is known to forage on a number of plant species including ''

Eugenia uniflora ''Eugenia uniflora'', the pitanga, Suriname cherry, Brazilian cherry, Cayenne cherry, cerisier carré, monkimonki kersie or ñangapirí, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, native to tropical South America’s east coast, ranging ...

'' fruits,Souza, G. K.; Pikart, T. G.; Jacques, G. C.; Castro, A. A.; DeSouza, M. M.; Serrão, J. E. & Zanuncio, J. C. (2013). "Social wasps on ''Eugenia uniflora'' Linnaeus (Myrtaceae) plants in an urban area". ''Sociobiology''. 60 (2): 204-209. '' Banisteriopsis malifolia'', and several agriculturally relevant plants.Santos, G. M. D. M. & Presley, S. J. (2010)
"Niche overlap and temporal activity patterns of social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in a Brazilian cashew orchard"
''Sociobiology''. 56 (1): 121-131.De Souza, A. R.; Venancio, D. F. A.; Zanuncio, J. C. & Prezoto, F. (2011)
"Sampling methods for assessing social wasps species diversity in a ''Eucalyptus'' plantation"
''Journal of Economic Entomology''. 104 (3): 1120-1123.

Species interactions

Competition

This species has been documented to compete for food resources with several other animal species. ''B. lecheguana'' competes with the

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

species '' Camponotus blandus'' for the plant '' Banisteriopsis maliflora'', and, consequently, the wasp is typically found on ant-free plants and has been known to interrupt its foraging when an ant approaches. This supports the hypothesis that ''B. lecheguana'' is in a mutualistic relationship with the plant '' B. maliflora'', since the plant supplies nectar reserves to the wasp, and the wasp preys on

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpar ...

insect larvae living on the plant. Another study suggests that ''B. lecheguana'' may also compete with

parasitoids In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionary strategies within parasi ...

for coffee

leaf miner A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths ( Lepidoptera), sawflies ( Symphyta, the mother clade of wasp ...

larvae in an agricultural setting.

Pollination

Flickr - João de Deus Medeiros - Baccharis dracunculifolia

Although this wasp visits a diverse collection of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s, it is only reported as a pollinator in a limited number of instances. ''B. lecheguana'' is documented as a pollinator of ''

'' spp. Additionally, as an alien species to the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

, there have been reports that catalog ''B. lecheguana'' as an important pollinator on the island of Santa Cruz.

Parasites

The limited information on this species documents very few instances of parasitism, although it is unlikely that this wasp is free from parasites. One report suggests that ''B. lecheguana'' is subject to parasitism by

Strepsiptera The Strepsiptera are an order of insects with eleven extant families that include about 600 described species. They are endoparasites in other insects, such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches. Females of most species never ...

Predators

''B. lecheguana'' is a prey target for a number of animals.Jeanne, R.L. (1975)
"The adaptiveness of social wasp nest architecture"
''Quarterly Review of Biology''. 50 (3): 267-287. The lizard '' Tupinambis teguixin'' is known to prey on this wasp, having easy access to its nests since they are low to the ground and easily accessible. A number of birds are suspected to prey on ''B. lecheguana'', although there are relatively few documentations of this in the literature. Also, the army ant '' Eciton dulcius'' is reported to prey on this wasp. Another source of predation is by asilids, or robber flies.

Human interactions

Agriculture

''B. lecheguana'' is a known natural enemy of the coffee leaf miner '' Leucoptera coffeella'', along with several other species of wasp including ''

Polistes versicolor ''Polistes versicolor'', also known as the variegated paper wasp or yellow paper wasp, is a subtropical social wasp within ''Polistes'', the most common genus of paper wasp. It is the most widely distributed of South American wasp species and is ...

'', '' Polybia paulista'',Scalon, J. D.; Avelar, M. B. L.; Alves, G. F. & Zacarias, M. S. (2011)
"Spatial and temporal dynamics of coffee-leaf-miner and predatory wasps in organic coffee field in formation"
''Ciencia Rural'', Santa Maria. 41 (4): 646-652. '' Polybia occidentalis'', '' Polybia scutellaris'', and '' Protonectarina sylveirae''. ''B. lecheguana'' are often used as biological controls in

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

plantations A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...

in order to prevent the proliferation of the devastating leaf miner. In order to test the effect pesticides have on the environment and to test the efficacy of using pesticides in conjunction with natural predators, the effect that several pesticides have on the health of ''B. lecheguana'' and other wasps was assayed. This wasp species is found to be highly susceptible to

chlorpyrifos Chlorpyrifos (CPS), also known as Chlorpyrifos ethyl, is an organophosphate pesticide that has been used on crops, animals, and buildings, and in other settings, to kill several pests, including insects and worms. It acts on the nervous systems ...

and other organophosphate pesticides. Even at half the recommended dosage of a number of these pesticides, the wasp was found to have nearly 100% mortality. In addition to coffee plantations, wasps have also been documented to forage in cashew farms and inhabit

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...

plantations where it may play a role in pest control.

Stings and aggressiveness

The

aggressiveness Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...

of this wasp is disputed. While some report that the wasp is rather unaggressive even when disturbed, others warn of its aggressive behavior towards human victims. Having a moderately painful sting,Starr, C. K. (1985)
"A simple pain scale for field comparison of Hymenopteran Stings"
''Journal of Entomological Science''. 20 (2): 225-232. ''B. lecheguana'' uses an autotomous stinging strategy, employing a barbed stinger specialized for

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a st ...

delivery and release of the stinger in the sting site.Shorter, J. R. & Rueppell, O. (2012)
"A review on self-destructive defense behaviors in social insects"
''Insectes Sociaux''. 59: 1-10.

Honey

Some sources indicate that the

from the ''B. lecheguana'' hives is harvested regularly and consumed. In certain parts of Mexico, it appears that ''B. lecheguana'' is maintained in a state of semi-

domestication Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. ...

. It is warned, however, that the honey can also be

poisonous Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

. The toxicity of the honey is a result of the wasp collecting nectar during the '' Datura'' blooming season.

Medicine

Ethnoentomologists and anthropologists have documented use of ''B. lecheguana'' as a medical treatment in certain communities.Costa Neto, E. M. (2002). "The use of insects in folk medicine in the state of Bahia, Northeastern Brazil, with notes on insects reported elsewhere in Brazilian folk medicine". ''Human Ecology''. 30 (2): 245-263. Some of the communities eat both the honey and the larvae of the wasp, while others use the adult wasps themselves. It appears that the honey has been used to treat coughing or

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, co ...

in the Pankararé and Matinha communities in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. The wasp itself has been used in the Serrinha area to treat pain associated with their stings.

References

{{Taxonbar , from=Q14424495 Vespidae Hymenoptera of South America Insects described in 1824