Protopolybia fuscata (Fox, 1898) (Figs. 3, 4, 15, 16, 17, 18, 29) Charterginus fuscatus Fox, 1898: 459. Holotype: ♀, Brazil: Mararú (CM, Pittsburgh), examined. Charterginus fuscatus Dalla Torre 1904: 85; Carpenter & Van der Vecht 1991: 222. Chartergus fuscatus Ducke 1904: 325, 329, 338. Pseudochartergus fuscatus: Ducke 1910: 466; Bequaert 1938: 105; Jeanne 1970: 55, 56, 60; Richards 1978: 154, 155; Overal 1978: 11; Carpenter & Wenzel 1990: 180, 183; Wenzel 1991: 515; Downing 1991: 548 Protopolybia fuscatus: Carpenter & Van der Vecht 1991: 222; Sarmiento 1994: 359; Santos-Junior et al. 2015: 153, 154, 168, 174, 182. Diagnosis. Length of fore wing 5.16 mm; eyes glabrous; gena narrow, about 0.41 × eye width; occipital carina developed only on upper quarter of the head (Fig. 29); body almost completely covered by minute bristles; pronotal carina laterally very developed, angular (Fig. 3); prominence in front of the pronotal fovea developed, high (Fig. 3); pronotal fovea distinct, wide and deep; mesoscutum without conspicuous bristles. Metanotum short, metanotal process with apex narrowly rounded (Fig. 4); propodeal valves narrow. Color black with few marks yellow on front and gena. Apical angle of paramere narrow (Fig. 15), apex of aedeagus approximately truncated in dorsal view (Fig. 17). Redescription. FEMALE. Length of fore wing 5.16 mm; clypeus narrow, approximately as long as wide (HClp=0.91; MxWClp=0.81;TeW=0.63; MiWClp = 0.72 mm), ventral margin narrowly subtruncated; tentorial pit closer to antennal socket than to eye margin; interantennal area relatively wide, approximately 2 × diameter of antennal socket; mandibles relatively short, with length 0.54 × times distance between eyes at vertex; gena very narrow, about 0.41 × eye width; occipital carina developed only on upper quarter of the head; pronotal carina laterally very developed, angular; prominence in front of the pronotal fovea developed, high; pronotal fovea distinct, wide and deep (Fig. 3); length of mesoscutum 1.03 × its width; scrobal groove obsolete; metanotum triangular, short, length of median axis 0.56 × width of central disk, metanotal process with apex narrowly rounded (Fig. 4); propodeum with wide and shallow cavity; T1 sessile, distinctly wider than long, approximately as wide as T2. Frons, mesoscutum, scutellum, metanotum and propodeum with sparse micropunctation and deeper and stronger mesopunctation; T1–T5 with mesopunctation strong and deep; clypeus with short golden bristles, except on ventral margin, which has elongated bristles; eyes with small sparse bristles; mesoscutum without conspicuous bristles; propodeum with short and sparse bristles. Color black, scape and pedicel ventrally brown, antennomeres and mandibles black to brown; clypeus almost entirely, inner orbit with narrow yellow band which extends to the ocular sinus, outer orbit with narrow yellow band which extends to the occiput; tegulae partially brown, propodeum without dorsal marks; T1–T5 black. Legs black; wings hyaline, venation brown. MALE. Length of fore wing 5.58 mm; eyes wide, strongly produced inwards; clypeus narrow, longer than wide, with silvery and long bristles, ventral margin little produced and subtruncated; tentorial pit closer to eye margin than to antennal socket; gena very narrow; color like female. Genitalia. Parameral spine without elongate bristles; basal angle of paramere widened, apical angle narrow (Fig. 15); digitus wide with apical margin approximately rounded, without long bristles; basal process acuminate (Fig. 18); cuspis strongly covered by long bristles; ventral process of aedeagus laterally projecting, strongly sclerotized and weakly serrated (Fig. 16); preapical region of aedeagus not angular in lateral view (Fig. 16); apex approximately truncated in dorsal view (Fig. 17). Material examined. BOLIVIA: Beni, 1♀, Rurenabaque, 270m, 18.iv.1979 (M. Cooper); La Paz, 1♀, Rio, San Buenaventura, 270m, 22.iv.1979 (M. Cooper) (BMNH); BRAZIL: Pará, 9♀, Belém, Utinga, 30.xi.1967 (R. L. Jeanne), 3♀, 26.iv.1901 (Ducke), 1♀, Serra Norte, Serraria, 20.vi,1986 (M.F. Torres), 1♀, Belterra, 06.i.2000 (G.C. Venturieri) (MPEG); 1♀, 16.742 (MZUSP); COLOMBIA: Valle, 1♀, 1♂, Tulua, 25.ii.1976 (M.J.W. Eberhardt); ECUADOR: Napo, 1♀, Limonocha, 280m, 14.vii.1977 (C.W. Ruttenmeyer & R. Chadab) (BMNH); PERU: Loreto, 7♀, 80km NE Iquitos, 24.xii.1990 (Carpenter & Wenzel), 6♂, Rio Sucusari at Napo, 25.xii.1990 (AMNH). Distribution. Bolivia: Beni; Brazil; Pará; Colombia: Boyaca; Ecuador; Peru. Remarks. Since the synonym proposed by Carpenter & Wenzel (1990) and according to article 31.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN, 1999), in which a species name is a Latin or latinized adjective or participle in the nominative singular, it must agree in gender with the generic name with which it is at any time combined, the specific epithet fuscatus is now treated as fuscata.

Published as part of Dos Santos Junior, José N. A., Silveira, Orlando T. & Carpenter, James M., 2020, Taxonomic revision of the P. chartergoides species-group of the genus Protopolybia Ducke, 1905 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae), pp. 542-554 in Zootaxa 4858 (4) on pages 546-547, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4858.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/4537528