Is the reuse of abandoned nest material a characteristic of the genus Parachartergus Ihering, 1904 (Vespidae: Polistinae)?

Abstract

The social wasp species of the genus Parachartergus Ihering, 1904 (Vespidae: Polistinae) use plant fibers and saliva to build their nests, although two species are known to reuse material from abandoned nests belonging to other wasps. This paper aims to report the species Parachartegus pseudapicalis Willink, 1959, which has reused material from an abandoned social wasp nest. The record occurred at random, in November 2023, in the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado transition area, in the municipality of Luminárias, southern Minas Gerais, Brazil. The reported behavior is similar to that observed in Parachartegus fraternus (Gribodo, 1892) and Parachartegus colobopterus (Lichtenstein, 1796). This reuse may be frequent in Parachartergus, but further studies are suggested in order to better elucidate this behavior and its evolutionary significance.