Polistes (Epicnemius) cinerascens de Saussure, 1854 (Figs 49, 50) Polistes cinerascens de Saussure, 1854: 99, ♀. Diagnosis. Female. Body black, with yellow apical bands on the terga, and there may be reduced marks on the propodeum. Wings pigmentation yellowish to faintly brown or reddish to brown. Relatively small size, maximum 16 mm in total length. Clypeus slightly wider than it is long or as long as wide, covered by short bristles at its base becoming long toward the apex, medium-sized and deep punctures, present throughout the clypeus, apex pointed, clypeus-eye touching for an extent equal to or greater than width of antennal socket; gena width at midlength equal to or slightly wider than eye; occipital carina strong; humeri slightly projecting; mesepisternum with short and dense bristles, punctation small and shallow; propodeal concavity and striae absent; tergum I longer than wide, with short and dense bristles, and strong, medium sized, and deep punctures; tergum II wider than or as wide as long; with short and dense bristles, with corrugation. Male. Similar to females, except for the occipital carina extended along the entire length of the gena, propodeum with fine striae. Material examined. 54♀, 3♂ in total. Brazil: Bahia, 1♀ (MNB); Goiás, 2♀ (MNHN); Minas Gerais, ♀ [Lectotype] (MNHN); Paraná, 10♀ (NHM); Rio de Janeiro, 1♀, 1♂ (AMNH), 1♀ (MNHN), 1♀ (MNB); Rio Grande do Sul, 3♀ (AMNH), 2♀ (MNHN), 13♀ (NHM), 11♀, 1♂ (CESC); Santa Catarina, 3♀ (AMNH); São Paulo, 2♀, 1♂ (AMNH), 1♀ (MNHN), 2♀ (MZSP) Distribution. Brazil: Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, Tocantins; Venezuela; Ecuador; Bolivia; Paraguay; Argentina; Uruguay.

Published as part of Brito, Samanta, Oliveira, Marcio L., Carpenter, James M. & Somavilla, Alexandre, 2024, The genus Polistes Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) of Brazil: morphological diagnoses, identification key, and geographical distribution, pp. 509-545 in Zootaxa 5496 (4) on page 526, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5496.4.3, http://zenodo.org/record/13617543