Species Ropalidia plebeiana Richards, 1978

Museums

Regional Maps

• Ropalidia (Icariola) plebeiana Richards, O.W. 1978. The Australian social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 61: 1-132 [75] [nom. nov. for Icaria plebeja Saussure, 1863].
• Ropalidia (Icariola) hirsuta Richards, O.W. 1978. The Australian social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 61: 1-132 [81].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♀ adult, Port Darwin, NT.
• Icaria plebeja Saussure, H. de 1863. Mélanges hyménoptérologiques. Mémoires de la Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève 17: 171-244 [235] [junior homonym of Icaria plebeja Saussure, 1862 described from Sulawasi (as Celebes); no new name specifically proposed by O.W. Richards as he believed this species to be the same as Ropalidia (Icariola) plebiana Richards, 1978].

  Type data:

   Lectotype GMNH ♀ adult, Australia (as New Holland).

  Subsequent designation references:

  Kojima, J. 2001. Taxonomic notes on types of the social wasp tribe Ropalidiini (Insecta: Hymenoptera; Vespidae, Polistinae) housed mainly in the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Genève. Natural History Bulletin of Ibaraki University 5: 1-22 [Date published 9/Feb/2001] [10].
• Ropalidia (Icariola) plebiana Cardale, J.C. 1985. Hymenoptera: Vespoidea and Sphecoidea. pp. 150-303 in Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Hymenoptera: Formicoidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 2 vi 381 pp. [216] [incorrect subsequent spelling].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Kojima, J. & Carpenter, J.M. 1997. Catalog of species in the Polistine tribe Ropalidiini (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). American Museum Novitates 3199: 1-96 [Date published 16/05/1997] [47]
• Kojima, J. 1999. Taxonomic notes on Australian Ropalidia Guérin-Méneville, 1831 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae). Entomological Science 2(3): 367-377 [370]

Distribution

States

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

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: volant.

Larva: predator, sedentary.

Extra Ecological Information

Social, nests of 'paper'.

General References

Carpenter, J.M. & Brown, G.R. 2022. Catalogue of the Australian social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Zootaxa 5214(4): 451–495

Hook, A. & Evans, H.E. 1982. Observations on the nesting behaviour of three species of Ropalidia Guérin-Méneville (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 21: 271-275 [275] (biology)

Itô, Y. 1985. Social behaviour of an Australian paper wasp, Ropalidia plebeiana, with special reference to the process of acceptance of an alien female. Journal of Ethology 3: 21-25 (nesting behaviour at Brisbane, QLD)

Itô, Y. & Higashi, S. 1987. Spring behaviour of Ropalidia plebeiana (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) within a huge aggregation of nests. Applied Entomology and Zoology (Tokyo) 22(4): 519-527 (behaviour at Cabbage Tree Creek, NSW)

Kojima, J. 1987. Descriptions of mature larvae of eight Australian Polistinae (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society 26(2): 141-148 [Date published 29/05/1987] [143] (larval description and illustrations)

Kojima, J. 1993. Feeding of larvae by males of an Australian paper wasp, Ropalidia plebeiana Richards (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Japanese Journal of Entomology 61(2): 213-215 [Date published 25/06/1993] (male behaviour at Canberra, ACT)

Kojima, J. & Spradbery, J.P. 1994. Ropalidia plebeiana Richards (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in Canberra. Australian Entomologist 21(4): 113-117 (nest architecture)

Yamane, S., Itô, Y. & Spradbery, J.P. 1991. Comb cutting in Ropalidia plebeiana, a new process of colony fission in social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Insectes Sociaux 38(2): 105-110 (biology)

History of changes