Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1979, Page 46

Apidae, this family is briefly mentioned.
Of the Apidae Bombus jonellus Kirby is
the only indigenous species in Iceland.
Apis mellifera L. on the other hand was
introduced to the country in 1951, but
did not survive for long.
The true wasps have liitherto been
completely missing as a part of the in-
digenous Icelandic fauna. Until recently
only single specimens have been record-
ed, presumably only as casual visitors to
the country. In 1978 a nest of Vespula
vulgaris L. was discovered, the first proven
instance of tlie true wasps reproducing in
Iceland.
lielow is a list of species and all known
occurrences of wasps of the family Vespi-
dae front Iceland. Only one of these is
previously published. The specimens are
kept at the Museum of Natural History,
lleykjavík, unless othervise stated.
Polistes gallicus L. (det. H. Andersson)
1. Reykjavík, 27 Sept. 1968, a worker
found alive in a barrel of grapes im-
portecl from Spain.
2. Kópavogur, 29 Oct. 1973, a worker
found in a food store, in imported
grapes.
Vespula germanica F.
1. Reykjavík, Jan. 1937 (Petersen 1956),
?coll. Geir Gígja.
2. Akureyri, winter of 1967, a queen
(Nat. Hist. Mus., Akureyri).
3. Reykjavík, Sept. 1973. This autumn
the species appeared in great num-
bers at a school in Reykjavík, of great
nuisance to pupils and staff. Very
likely a nest had been built in the
school’s neigbourhood the preceding
spring, but it was never found. A
single worker is kept at the Nat. Hist.
Mus. Reykjavík and a queen is kept
at the school in question (Mennta-
skólinn við Sund).
4. Reykjavík, 10 Sept. 1974, a worker.
5. Reykjavík, 8 March 1976, a queen.
6. Reykjavík, 4 July 1977, a queen.
7. Hafnarfjörður, 24 Sept. 1978, a work-
er.
Vcspula vulgaris L.
1. Reykjavík, 3 Nov. 1970, a queen
found dead in a window of a book
store.
2. Reykjavík, Oct. 1978. A nest was dis-
covered in a backyard. I was inform-
ed about the nest on 13 October.
Dttring 13—14 October I collected 83
wasps (18 drones, 2 queens and 63
workers) by the entrance to the nest.
The weather was cold making the
wasps inactive and unable to fly.
Two additional specimens (I male
and 1 wprker) were brought to me.
On 16 October the nest was dug up.
Altogether 250 adult wasps (31 dron-
es, 9 queens and 210 workers) and
numerous larvae and pupae were
found on this occasion. One of the
queens was obviously the founder of
the nest in view of her size and worn
wings. According to information I re-
ceived from people in the neighbour-
hood, wasps were also observed in
this same garden the summer before
(1977). It seems that the species over-
wintered successfully, which can
mean the species is now firmly esta-
blished as a member of the Icelandic
fauna.
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