STUDIES ON NEOTROPICAL POMPILIDAE 
(HYMENOPTERA) 
V. A US TR O CHA RES BANKS* 
By Howard E. Evans 
Museum of Comparative Zoology 
In the previous paper of this series (Evans, 1968), I described 
several cases of dual sex-limited mimicry in the genus Chirodamus 
and mentioned that certain species of Austrockares also exhibit this 
phenomenon. Since the situation is somewhat different from that 
prevailing in Chirodamus, and since I had previously stated (1966) 
that Austrockares as originally conceived by Banks (1947) was 
diphyletic, it seems desirable to clarify this matter further. Austro- 
chares was based upon gastricus Spinola and properly includes this 
species and four others; this genus is closely related to Episyron, 
P oecilopompilus , and Sericopompilus. The remaining species placed 
in the genus by Banks are much more closely related to A noplius and 
Poinpilus and are properly assignable to the genus Dicranoplius Haupt 
(1950). I hope to review Dicranoplius in the next paper of this 
series. 
The cases of dual mimicry occur in Austrockares as here restricted, 
and not in Dicranoplius. As in the instances of dual mimicry I 
described in Chirodamus , the females belong to a Mullerian mimetic 
complex principally involving solitary wasps, while the males appear 
to be Batesian elements in a large mimetic complex centering around 
certain social wasps. Both complexes happen to be different than in 
Chirodamus, but I assume that similar selection pressures have been 
operative. The females evidently spend most of their time on the 
ground hunting for spiders and have evolved a color pattern of 
black and rufous like that of a great many solitary wasps occurring 
in the same situations (e.g. Dicranoplius sett anus ) (Figs. 2, 4)^ while 
the males spend most of their time flying in low vegetation in company 
with the workers of various social Vespidae. 
In this instance the model of the males is undoubtedly Polybia 
occidentals Olivier and its complex of sibling species (partially re- 
solved by Richards, 1951). Bequaert (1944) speaks of occidentals 
(that is, of the complex) as “the most common social wasp of tropical 
America”. The males are black except for conspicuous yellow spots 
on the scutellum and metanotum, a yellow margin on the pronotum, 
* Manuscript received by the editor November 25, 1968 
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