| Apoica | |
|---|---|
) | |
| nest of Apoica pallens | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Vespidae |
| Subfamily: | Polistinae |
| Tribe: | Epiponini |
| Genus: | Apoica Lepeletier, 1836[1] |
| Type species | |
| Apoica pallida Olivier, 1791[1] | |
| Species | |
| 11 described species, see text | |
Apoica is a genus of eusocial paper wasps found throughout the Central and South American tropics. These wasps are truly nocturnal, carrying out their foraging activities after the setting of the sun. They prefer to construct their nests, which have an open comb like many paper wasps, under large leaves, or in shrubs. During the day, wasps covering the comb fan their wings to cool the nest, keeping it at a suitable temperature for larval development.
When attacking prey, Apoica release a drop of venom from their stings, which in turn attracts any nearby wasps to attack.
Species
- Apoica albimacula (Fabricius)
- Apoica ambracarina Pickett
- Apoica arborea Saussure
- Apoica flavissima Van der Vecht
- Apoica gelida Van der Vecht
- Apoica pallens (Fabricius)
- Apoica pallida (Olivier)
- Apoica strigata Richards
- Apoica thoracica Buysson
- Apoica traili (Cameron)
- Apoica ujhelyii (Ducke)
References
- ^ a b James M. Carpenter. "Tentative Checklist of the Polistine Tribe Epiponini". IUNH. Archived from the original on 29 December 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
Pickett, K. M. and J. W. Wenzel. 2007. Revision and cladistic analysis of the nocturnal social wasp genus, Apoica Lepeletier (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae, Epiponini). American Museum Novitates, Number 3562, 30 pp.