Morfometria dos estágios imaturos de Polistes simillimus Zikán, 1951 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Resumo

The social wasp Polistes simillimus Zikán, 1951 present nests constituted by an only comb arrested to the substratum for an only eccentric peduncle, could stay in the environment for more than one year. The objective of this work was to determine the morfometry of the immature forms of P. simillimus. Were analyzed 127 eggs, 440 larvae and 42 pupae from seven colonies of P. simillimus, collected in Piracicaba, SP. The eggs are white, prolonged and smoothly curved, with 1,18 ±0,08(0,09-1,45) length mm and 0,52 ±0,05(0,42-1,45) width mm. The widths of the cephalic capsules of the larvae proved the existence of five instars, with a reason of growth of 1,44. The larvae of first, second and third instars have the
body arrested inside the old egg, for which are fastened in the cells. The larvae of fourth and fifth instars are larger and fill all the interior of the cell with your bodies. The larva of fifth instar makes a silk cocoon, in which the pupa suffers metamorphosis. In that phase it happens the development of the appendixes and corporal structures, the exoskeleton becomes rigid
and with dark coloration. The medium width of the cephalic capsule of the pupas was 2,53 ±0,17(2-2,88)mm. This way, P. simillimus has a development of the type holometabola, whose larvae have five instars, characterizing the post-embryonic development of Hymenoptera.