Polybia tinctipennis Fox, 1898:452, ♀. 2 ♀♀, Chapada, September and December (leg. H. Smith); Richards, 1978Richards, O.W. 1978. The social wasps of the Americas excluding the Vespinae. British Museum (Natural History), London. 1-567.:103, Holotype ♀ (ANS, Philadelphia). - Bequaert, 1943Bequaert, J.C. 1943. On the so-called Mischocyttraus ater, Polybia atra, and their relatives (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 36 (4):717-729. (distribution); Carpenter & Vecht, 1991Carpenter, J.M. & J. van der Vecht 1991. A study of the Vespidae described by William J. Fox (Insecta: Hymenoptera), with assessment of taxonomic implications. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 60 (3):211-241. (distribution); West-Eberhard et al., 1995West-Eberhard, M.J., J.M. Carpenter & P.E. Hanson 1995. The vespid wasps (Vespidae). In: Hanson, P.E. & I.D. Gauld (Ed.). The Hymenoptera of Costa Rica. 561-587. (distribution); Starr & Hook, 2003Starr, C.K. & Hook, A.W. 2003. The aculeate Hymenoptera of Trinidad, West Indies. Occasional Papers o the Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies 12:1-31. (distribution). - As Polybia tinctipennis tinctipennis: - Richards, 1978Richards, O.W. 1978. The social wasps of the Americas excluding the Vespinae. British Museum (Natural History), London. 1-567. (distribution); Rasmussen & Asenjo, 2009Rasmussen, C. & A. Asenjo 2009. A checklist to the wasps of Peru (Hymenoptera, Aculeata). ZooKeys 15:1-78. (distribution); Carpenter et al., 2012Carpenter, J.M., B.R. Garcete-Barrett & Y.J.A.F. López 2012. Las Vespidae (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) de Guatemala. In: Cano, E.B. & J.C. Schuster (Ed.). Biodiversidad de Guatemala. Volumen 2. 269-279. (distribution); Santos et al., 2015Santos, E.F. dos, Y.C Grandinete & F.B. Noll 2015. Additions to the checklist of Scoliidae, Sphecidae, Pompilidae and Vespidae of Peru, with notes on the endemic status of some species (Hymenoptera, Aculeata). ZooKeys 519:33-48. (distribution); Valverde et al., 2019Valverde, P., P. Hanson & J. Carpenter 2019. Keys to the Costa Rican species of paper wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Polistinae). Revista de Biología Tropical (International Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation) 67 (2):174-199. (distribution).
Polybia ypiranguensis Ihering, 1904:188, Richards, 1978Richards, O.W. 1978. The social wasps of the Americas excluding the Vespinae. British Museum (Natural History), London. 1-567.:103, Types 520 ♀♀ (depository unknown). - Bequaert, 1943Bequaert, J.C. 1943. On the so-called Mischocyttraus ater, Polybia atra, and their relatives (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 36 (4):717-729.:727 ( listed as synonym of Polybia tinctipennis Fox, 1898); Richards, 1978Richards, O.W. 1978. The social wasps of the Americas excluding the Vespinae. British Museum (Natural History), London. 1-567.:103 ( listed as synonym of Polybia tinctipennis tinctipennis Fox, 1898).