Ropalidia sp.

Observations.

Republic of South Africa • 5 ♀♀, nest; Pretoria; 25.75657°S, 28.19138°Е; 28 Mar 2025; obs Fanie Vermaak; (Fanievermaak 2025) • 1 ♀, nest; Tshwane, Gauteng; 25.79744°S, 28.29832°Е; 21 Feb 2024; obs Lezanne Rossouw; (Rossouw 2024).

Nest.

Two very interesting nests were observed, belonging to an unknown species from the capensis group. Both nests were built in an enclosed space, one in the green shiny crevice of the man-made object, resembling an enclosed space of a leafy plant (Rossouw 2024), and the other on the spiny trunk of a thorny plant (Fanievermaak 2025). In both cases, the nest wall was black and dark grey (one of these has horizontal streaks of brownish colour). In both nests, the cell openings were directed downwards, and the stalk was impregnated by an ant-repellent excretion since both stalks were shiny. The most likely candidate for the nest is a dark cluster of what was previously considered as Ropalidia antennata (de Saussure), which has several genetic clusters, and some of these are very dark in body colour (Polasek et al. 2025), like the adult wasps in both photos. The nesting habits suggest a separate taxon, but without confirmation, these two nests are currently treated as Ropalidia sp.

Ropalidia sp.

Observations. Cape Verde • 1 ♀; Santo Antão; 17.15517°N, 25.11609°E; 18 Feb 2023; obs Jean-Paul Boerekamps; (Boerekamps 2023) • 1 ♀; Boca de Curral; 17.16267°N, 25.10343°E; 5 Oct 2023; obs Tsveta Davidkova; (Davidkova 2023) • 1 ♀; Ribeira Grande; 17.16496°N, 25.08789°E; 26 May 2023; obs Bret van Putten; (van Putten 2023).

Three observations of this genus were made in Cape Verde, suggesting that this may be a more stable population and not an isolated invasion event. The most likely candidate species is R. aethiopica (du Buysson), although the photographs do not exclude a dark form of R. guttatipennis (de Saussure), an undescribed species or even multiple species, since one of the observations suggests a darker body colour and originates from the northern islands of the archipelago (van Putten 2023).