Notes on the Natural History and Climatic Specializations of an Endemic Caribbean Paper Wasp (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Mischocyttarus phthisicus)

Alycia Johnson; Clayton H. Ziemke; Donald A. Yee; Kaitlin M. Baudier

Notes on the Natural History and Climatic Specializations of an Endemic Caribbean Paper Wasp (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Mischocyttarus phthisicus)

Alycia Johnson¹, Clayton H. Ziemke¹, Donald A. Yee¹, and Kaitlin M. Baudier¹^,*

¹Department of Marine Science, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC 29526, USA. ²Burroughs and Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC 29526, USA. ³Oak Island, NC 28461, USA. ⁴Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences, Solomons, MD 20688, USA. ⁵Quality Marine, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA. *Corresponding author.

Caribbean Naturalist, No. 96 (2024)

Abstract
Mischocyttarus phthisicus is a locally abundant social wasp in Puerto Rico with little known of its natural history. Using our own on-site observations and citizen-science reports from iNaturalist, we compiled data on and described this species’ occurrence, nesting biology, and colony size. To understand the degree of its climatic specialization, we also compared thermal tolerance across elevations. Nests were most often found on the undersides of broad leaves and were comparable in size to nests of congeners, though likely slightly larger. Heat tolerance, but not cold tolerance, changed with elevation, a result which does not follow Brett’s rule.

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