Genus Polistes Latreille, 1802

Museums

Regional Maps

• Polistes Latreille, P.A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes. Paris : F. Dufart Vol. 2 xii 467 pp.

  Type species:

   Vespa gallica Linnaeus, 1767 by original designation, see Latreille, P.A. 1810. Considération Générales sur l'Order Naturel des Animaux Composant les Classes des Crustacés, des Arachnides et des Insectes; avec un Tableau Méthodique de leurs Genres Disposés en Familles. Paris : F. Schoell viii 444 pp. [this work is the subject of Opinions 11 and 136, ICZN, and is on the Official List of Works approved as available for Zoological Nomenclature].
• Eupolistes Dalla Torre, K.W. von 1904. Hymenoptera. Fam. Vespidae. Genera Insectorum 19: 1-108.

  Type species:

   Vespa gallica Linnaeus, 1767 by original designation, see Richards, O.W. 1973. The subgenera of Polistes Latreille (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 17: 85-104.
• Pseudopolistes Weyrauch, W. 1937. Zur Systematik und Biologie der Kuckuckswespen Pseudovespa und Pseudopolistes. Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für Systematik, Ökologie und Geographie der Tiere 70: 243–290.

  Type species:

   Polistes sulcifer Zimmermann, 1930 by original designation, see Weyrauch, W. 1939. Zur Systematik der palaearktischen Polistinen auf biologischer Grundlage. Archiv für Naturgeschichte Neue Folge 8(2): 145–197.
• Polistula Weyrauch, W. 1938. Zur Systematik und Biologie der palaearktischen Polistinen. Arbeiten über Physiologische und Angewandte Entomologie aus Berlin-Dahlem 5(3): 273–278.

  Type species:

   Polistes kohli Dalla Torre, 1904 by original designation, see Weyrauch, W. 1939. Zur Systematik der palaearktischen Polistinen auf biologischer Grundlage. Archiv für Naturgeschichte Neue Folge 8(2): 145–197.
• Leptopolistes Blüthgen, P. 1943. Die europäischen Polistinen (Hym. Vespidae Vespinae). Archiv für Naturgeschichte Neue Folge 12(1): 94–129.

  Type species:

   Polistes associus Kohl, 1898 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Subgeneric Arrangement

• Carpenter, J.M. 1996. Distributional checklist of species of the genus Polistes (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae, Polistini). American Museum Novitates 3188: 1-39

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Gascoyne (GAS), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Other Regions

Christmas Island terrestrial & freshwater, Cocos (Keeling) Islands terrestrial & freshwater, Norfolk Island terrestrial & freshwater

General References

Charnley, H.W. 1973. The value of the propodeal orifice and the phallic capsule in vespid taxonomy (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Bulletin of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences 26: 1-79 [13] (male genital morphology of several species)

Petersen, B. 1990. Polistine wasps of the subgenera Stenopolistes and Megapolistes from the Philippine, Moluccan and Bismarck Islands (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Entomologica Scandinavica 21: 53-66 (Philippine, Moluccan and Bismarck Ils species)

History of changes