Ropalidia
Sign in to saveRopalidia is a large genus of eusocial paper wasps (Polistinae) in the tribe Ropalidiini distributed throughout the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Australasian biogeographical regions. The genus Ropalidia is unusual because it contains both independent and swarm-founding species. Ropalidia romandi is one of the swarm founding species, meaning that new nests are founded by a large group of workers with a smaller number of inseminated females (egg-laying foundresses), while Ropalidia revolutionalis is independent-founding, meaning that each nest is founded by a single foundress.
Taxonomy · GBIF
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderHymenoptera
- FamilyVespidae
via GBIF · CC0
Article
4 sectionsContents
- Description
- Species
- Identification
- References
Ropalidia is a large genus of eusocial paper wasps (Polistinae) in the tribe Ropalidiini distributed throughout the Afrotropical, Indomalayan and Australasian biogeographical regions. The genus Ropalidia is unusual because it contains both independent and swarm-founding species. Ropalidia romandi is one of the swarm founding species, meaning that new nests are founded by a large group of workers with a smaller number of inseminated females (egg-laying foundresses), while Ropalidia revolutionalis is independent-founding, meaning that each nest is founded by a single foundress.
== Description == Ropalidia can be distinguished from other genera in the tribe by: the pronotum having a dorsal carina but lacking a pretegular carina, the first metasomal segment being petiolate but (in dorsal view) not parallel-sided, and the mesepisternum lacking a scrobal sulcus.