Diversidade de vespas sociais (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Volistinae) do Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra, no municipio de São Roque de Minas – MG

Social wasps are insects belonging to the order Hymenoptera and the Vespidae family. This family contains six subfamilies, in which we highlight three, Stenogastinae, Vespinae and Polistinae, because they present social habits, being the subfamily Polistinae the only one with occurrence in Brazil. Studies on the diversity of social wasps in the state of Minas Gerais have been increasing in recent years, but in the case of the Cerrado biome, which comprises more than half of the state's territory, very few studies are available. Social wasps are of great ecological importance because they participate in the trophic balance of ecosystems, acting as pollinators and insect predators, and can also be used as bioindicators of environmental quality. The survey and identification of genera and species of animals and plants are important to know the natural resources available in a given area, as well as to contribute to the study of the ecological characteristics of an ecosystem. The present work has the objective of carrying out the first inventory of the diversity of social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae) of Serra da Canastra National Park (PNSC) in the municipality of São Roque de Minas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The collections were carried out during the year 2018 through two methodologies: attractive traps and active search. Sampling was performed during the year 2018, with two types of wasp collection methods: attractive traps and active search. A total of 2239 social wasps of 37 species and nine genera were collected. Four species had their identification only at the level of genus, having great chances of being new species or of being their first record in the state of Minas Gerais. This research confirms that a very diversified environment, even with anthropic influence, has a great wealth of species of social wasps, evidencing the importance of using more than one collection method. Besides this is an unpublished work that can contribute and help in the re-elaboration of public policies for the conservation of areas of the park, which are of great ecological relevance.