Vespa karenkona Sonan 1929

Vespa karenkona Sonan 1929 [Vespula flaviceps (Smith 1870)]

Type material. Sonan (1929: 148) described this nominal taxon based on 3 Ƥ with the collection data “Karenkô (3000–6500 ft.), 20.VII–4.VIII.1919 (Coll. T. Okuni, J. Sonan, K. Yoshino)”. Sonan intended to designate the holotype and paratypes, and he mentioned “ Type: Body length 14 mm Wing span 23 mm (length of fore wing 10 mm. Paratype: Body length 12–14 mm. Wing span around 23 mm (length of fore wing around 10 mm)” [in Japanese]. In the description of characteristics, he referred to variations in the marking pattern of the clypeus in a rather ambiguous way in terms of the holotype designation. That is, he mentioned that “the clypeus has a dark ferruginous, longitudinal, median line, which does not reach to mid-length of the clypeus” [in Japanese], which would have been the state in the specimen that Sonan intended to designate as the holotype. Then he gave variation in parentheses that “this line varies with individuals, such that the line is medially interrupted to become spots or completely disappeared” [in Japanese]; these two states could have been of the two specimens that Sonan intended to designate as the paratypes. In TARI, there are 3 Ƥ with the same collection data and identification labels, “ Formosa / Karenko, -19. / VII 20–VIII 4. / T. Okuni, / J. Sonan, / K. Miy., M. Yosh.” and “ Vespa / karenkona Sonan / Det. J. Sonan”. The female with Type label has the head and left fore wing detached [we glued them on the attached identification label]; its body length was measured about 13 mm, the right fore wing is about 9 mm long, and the clepues has no dark marking. The other 2 Ƥ have a Paratype label: their body lengths are about 11 mm and 13 mm, and fore wing lengths are about 9.5 mm and 10.5 mm; the clypeus of the smaller specimen has a dark ferruginous, longitudinal, median band, while that of the larger specimen has only a small dark spot. This observation that only the smaller specimen has the dark median band (or line) on the clypeus suggests that his description of the variations in the marking pattern of the clypeus were not for the paratypes. In conclusion, we have treated the specimen with Type label as the originally designated holotype.

Without examining the holotype of Vespa karenkona Sonan, Yamane et al. (1980: 16) treated this taxon as a subspecies of Vespula flaviceps. Starr (1992: 109), giving “ Vespa karenkona Sonan 1929: 148 [types examined: holotype worker, 2 paratype workers]” in the synonym list of Vespula flaviceps, formally synonymized Vespa karenkona under Vespula flaviceps.