Northern Paper Wasp -- Part II

Why I NEED BugGuide

A Norther Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) found in eastern North America would probably look more like the one in this photo taken in New York. Note the darker abdomen. The only yellow present is in bands circling the abdominal segments. (This specimen is a male as indicated by the sharp curves at the tips of his antennae.)

An entirely different species of native paper wasp is found in the west. Polistes aurifer has much more yellow on its abdomen, particularly large yellow spots on the second segment.

Here in the Midwest we have various transitional color patterns. The P. fuscatus I found in my basement has yellow spots on her abdomen, but they are not nearly so pronounced as those found on P. aurifer. The ultimate visual distinction between the two species is that P. fuscatus has dark antennea while those on P. aurifer are lighter colored.

(Note: Some entomologists do not consider P. aurifer a separate species but a sub-species, P fuscatus aurifer.)

Field guides are useful and I consult many of them, but when it comes to insects, I'm glad I live in the age of digital cameras and Internet resources like BugGuide. I would never be able to identify more than a fraction of the insect macros I take were it not for help from the experts there.

On his blog Myrmecos, Alex Wild speculates that digital cameras and macro photography may be generating an interest in arthropods akin to the popularization of birding that resulted from the publication of Roger Tory Peterson's first field guide to birds.

Wild concludes:

What are the implications of a larger general interest in arthropods? I don’t know, but I would like to think they would be similar to those of Peterson’s guide. An elevated interest in biodiversity could help sustain conservation efforts. It certainly means a greater appreciation of life’s diversity, and that can’t be a bad thing.

Northern Paper Wasp -- Part II

Northern Paper Wasp -- Part I

Northern Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) -- Female


During one of the warmer days last week, I found this Northern Paper Wasp wandering around in my basement shop. Her behavior was sluggish because it's still too cold for her to become active and it's way too soon for her to begin nest building. We will have many more sub-freezing temperatures and no food for her or her developing larvae is available. I hope she was able to return to hibernation.


Typical Lifecycle: Only fertilized females survive the winter by hibernating in piles of wood, crevice in tree back and in piles of vegetation. When the weather warms enough, she will construct a paper nest and lay eggs. All the eggs laid during the early part of the summer will develop into infertile females, workers that will expand the nest and help feed the larvae that develop from eggs laid by the queen. As the colony matures, males and fertile females are produced. The females that successfully breed will hibernate over winter and become the next year's queens while the males, workers and former queen all die.


Food: Paper wasps eat nectar. They also use their stingers to kill insects, usually caterpillars. The caterpillars are chewed into mushy bits and feed to the developing grubs.

Sources and additional information:
BugGuide
Cirrus Images

Northern Paper Wasp -- Part I