The genus Polistes Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) of Brazil: morphological diagnoses, identification key, and geographical distribution

Polistes Latreille, 1802 is a genus with cosmopolitan distribution, with 238 species in the world, 94 in the New World. Brazil has 43 species but there is not a complete understanding of the distribution of these species in the country, making it difficult to estimate the diversity of the genus for each region. Species descriptions in Polistes are typically short, and some diagnostic characteristics are subtle, making it difficult to identify and differentiate species of Polistes. To facilitate the identification and differentiation of species, standardized diagnoses, illustrations, geographic distribution, and a dichotomous key are proposed for all Polistes species occurring in Brazil.