Ropalidia


Ropalidia is a large genus of eusocial paper wasps 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, 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 not parallel-sided, and the mesepisternum lacking a scrobal sulcus.

Species