Vol. 60, 2021
(update: 2021.01.08; 03.08)
Nesting Biology of the Solitary
Wasp Pisoxylon amenkei
(Hymenoptera, Crabronidae, Trypoxylini) in a Neotropical Hotspot of
Southern Brazil
Jean
Pablo Alves de Deus1,* , Caroline Nepomuceno Queiros1 ,
and Maria Luisa Tunes Buschini1
doi:10.6620/ZS.2021.60-05
1Alameda
Élio Antonio Dalla Vecchia, 838, Vila Carli, Campus CEDETEG,
Universidade Estadual do Centro Oeste - UNICENTRO, Guarapuava - PR,
85040-167. *Correspondence: E-mail: jeanpablo_97@outlook.com (Deus).
Tel: +5542999509852.
E-mail: carolinenqueiros@gmail.com (Queiros); isatunes@yahoo.com.br
(Buschini)
Received 27 June 2020 / Accepted 31
December 2020
Communicated by John Wang
Pisoxylon amenkei is a specie of
solitary wasp that builds its nests in pre-existing cavities; it has
only been recorded nesting in the Araucaria forest, one of the Atlantic
forest phytophysiognomies and a biodiversity hotspot. So far, the only
information on the biology of the genus Pisoxylon is based on one species.
In addition, the genus has many similarities to Trypoxylon, showing an increased
need for studies on the
biology of these species of wasps. In the present study, we introduce
unpublished information about Pisoxylon
amenkei nesting biology and described many aspects of its
natural history. Research was carried out between August 2017 and
August 2019, in a rural area of Guarapuava municipality, Paraná,
Brazil. Pisoxylon amenkei
nested only in fragmented parts of Araucaria forest, during summer and
autumn. It is a multivoltine species, and thus remains in diapause, in
the pre-pupa phase during winter and spring. Their nests had an
interior design similar to that of Pisoxylon
xanthosoma and some Trypoxylon
species, such as Trypoxylon lactitarse and Trypoxylon agamenon. Moreover, the
sex ratio of P. amenkei was 1: 1, which can be linked to an equal cost
in the production of females and males. Like other species of Pisoxylon, P. amenkei nests primarily in
forest areas. In southern Brazil, it nests in fragments of Araucaria
forest, which are threatened. Therefore, more efforts are needed to
preserve these remaining fragments; a failure to do so could have
devastating results, considering the number of threatened species that
these forests house. We conclude that further studies should focus on
the phylogeny of the group and use molecular analyses to clarify the
hypothesis of Antropov (1998), that Pisoxylon
should be classified as a subgenus of Trypoxylon.
Key words: Hymenoptera,
Crabronidae, Diapause, Multivoltine, Conservation.
Citation: Deus JPAd, Queiros CN, Buschini
MLT. 2021. Nesting biology of the solitary wasp Pisoxylon amenkei (Hymenoptera,
Crabronidae, Trypoxylini) in a Neotropical Hotspot of Southern Brazil.
Zool Stud 60:5. doi:10.6620/ZS.2021.60-05.

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