Agelaia is a genus of Neotropical social wasps (family Vespidae), with species from Mexico to northern Argentina. 17 of the 33 described species are found in Brazil. These species are swarm founders that nest in cavities. The nest generally is without an envelope, with that of A. areata a notable exception for having a complete envelope.
The main component of the venom is agelotoxin, a phospholipase A2 direct haemolysin.
Species There are 33 extant species of Agelaia: Agelaia acreana Agelaia anceps Agelaia angulata Agelaia angulicollis Agelaia areata Agelaia baezae Agelaia bequaerti Agelaia brevistigma Agelaia cajennensis Agelaia centralis Agelaia constructor Agelaia cornelliana Agelaia flavipennis Agelaia fulvofasciata Agelaia hamiltoni Agelaia imitatrix Agelaia lobipleura Agelaia melanopyga Agelaia multipicta Agelaia myrmecophila Agelaia nebularum Agelaia nigrescens Agelaia ornata Agelaia pallidiventris Agelaia pallipes Agelaia panamaensis Agelaia pleuralis Agelaia silvatica Agelaia testacea Agelaia timida Agelaia vicina Agelaia xanthopus Agelaia yepocapa
References
Further reading Zucchi, R., Sakagami, S. F., Noll, F. B., Mechi, M. R., Mateus, S., Baio, M. V., et al. (1995). Agelaia vicina, a swarm-founding polistine with the largest colony size among wasps and bees (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 103(2), 129–137. Hermes Marcel Gustavo, Köhler Andreas. The genus Agelaia Lepeletier (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae) in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Rev. Bras. entomol. [serial on the Internet]. 2004 Mar [cited 2008 May 17]; 48(1): 135–138.