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The Metric Paper Wasp, Polistes metricus, is a large, slender paper wasp with a dark, reddish-brown look. The head and thorax are rusty red-brown with black lines on the thorax, while the long abdomen is mostly black, with red marks on the first segment and sometimes on the second. Yellow is very limited, often just a narrow band at the end of the first abdominal segment. The wings are dark smoky brown, and the legs are rusty with dark marks, often with yellowish tarsi. Females have a reddish-brown face, while males usually have a yellow face. The forewing is about 14 to 21 mm long, so the wasp as a whole is about 15 to 25 mm. It looks a lot like dark forms of the Northern Paper Wasp, Polistes fuscatus, but has more red on the thorax and a mostly black abdomen, and it is much darker than the all-red Red Wasp, Polistes carolina.
The Metric Paper Wasp lives in the eastern and southern United States, from New York and Pennsylvania south to Florida and west to Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and eastern Texas. It is most common in the warm part of that range, with only a few records in southern Canada. It is found around woodland edges, fields, gardens, and neighborhoods, where it builds open, umbrella-shaped nests under the eaves of roofs and on porches, sheds, trees, and shrubs. Some of our specimens were collected in Phelps County, Missouri.
This is a social wasp that lives in a small colony led by a queen. The workers chew wood fibers into paper to build the single open comb, and they hunt mostly caterpillars, which they chew up and feed to the larvae, and they also drink nectar and other sweet liquids. A nest usually holds a few dozen wasps. Paper wasps are not as quick to attack as yellowjackets, but they defend the nest and sting when it is disturbed, so nests built over doors and porches are often a problem.
The Metric Paper Wasp undergoes complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult). A mated queen spends the winter in a sheltered spot, such as a crack in a wall or a hollow log, and in spring starts a nest by herself. She lays an egg in each cell and feeds the larvae until the first workers hatch, and the workers then take over the building and foraging while she lays eggs. The colony grows through the summer, and in late summer it produces new queens and males, which mate. The old queen, the workers, and the males die in the fall, and only the mated young queens survive the winter. The nest is not reused.
The Metric Paper Wasp is mostly beneficial, because its workers kill large numbers of caterpillars and other insects in gardens and crops, and the adults visit flowers for nectar. It is a nuisance when nests are built close to doors, windows, and play areas, and its stings are painful and can be dangerous to people who are allergic. Nests in quiet places are best left alone, and those near people are best removed in the cooler part of the day or in early spring when the colony is small.
This preserved specimen educates on social wasps and how species of Polistes are told apart, suitable for displays or studies. Check it out on BugGuide! https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/60264
The Metric Paper Wasp, Polistes metricus, is a large, slender paper wasp with a dark, reddish-brown look. The head and thorax are rusty red-brown with black lines on the thorax, while the long abdomen is mostly black, with red marks on the first segment and sometimes on the second. Yellow is very limited, often just a narrow band at the end of the first abdominal segment. The wings are dark smoky brown, and the legs are rusty with dark marks, often with yellowish tarsi. Females have a reddish-brown face, while males usually have a yellow face. The forewing is about 14 to 21 mm long, so the wasp as a whole is about 15 to 25 mm. It looks a lot like dark forms of the Northern Paper Wasp, Polistes fuscatus, but has more red on the thorax and a mostly black abdomen, and it is much darker than the all-red Red Wasp, Polistes carolina.
The Metric Paper Wasp lives in the eastern and southern United States, from New York and Pennsylvania south to Florida and west to Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and eastern Texas. It is most common in the warm part of that range, with only a few records in southern Canada. It is found around woodland edges, fields, gardens, and neighborhoods, where it builds open, umbrella-shaped nests under the eaves of roofs and on porches, sheds, trees, and shrubs. Some of our specimens were collected in Phelps County, Missouri.
This is a social wasp that lives in a small colony led by a queen. The workers chew wood fibers into paper to build the single open comb, and they hunt mostly caterpillars, which they chew up and feed to the larvae, and they also drink nectar and other sweet liquids. A nest usually holds a few dozen wasps. Paper wasps are not as quick to attack as yellowjackets, but they defend the nest and sting when it is disturbed, so nests built over doors and porches are often a problem.
The Metric Paper Wasp undergoes complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult). A mated queen spends the winter in a sheltered spot, such as a crack in a wall or a hollow log, and in spring starts a nest by herself. She lays an egg in each cell and feeds the larvae until the first workers hatch, and the workers then take over the building and foraging while she lays eggs. The colony grows through the summer, and in late summer it produces new queens and males, which mate. The old queen, the workers, and the males die in the fall, and only the mated young queens survive the winter. The nest is not reused.
The Metric Paper Wasp is mostly beneficial, because its workers kill large numbers of caterpillars and other insects in gardens and crops, and the adults visit flowers for nectar. It is a nuisance when nests are built close to doors, windows, and play areas, and its stings are painful and can be dangerous to people who are allergic. Nests in quiet places are best left alone, and those near people are best removed in the cooler part of the day or in early spring when the colony is small.
This preserved specimen educates on social wasps and how species of Polistes are told apart, suitable for displays or studies. Check it out on BugGuide! https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/60264
| Weight | 0.01 lbs |
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