#3508 · 🐝 bees, wasps & ants

European Paper Wasp

🇳🇱 Franse veldwesp ·Polistes dominula

🐝 Bees, wasps & ants 📍 in the Netherlands

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Bill Keim · CC BY 4.0
2. © Юрий Данилевский (Yuriy Danilevsky) · CC BY 4.0
3. © eebee · CC BY 4.0
4. © Steven Mlodinow · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © ccrowley14 · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © ingaderuyter · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. Sint Pieter, Maastricht, Nederland:© stefan_hageman · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. Groesbeek, Nederland:© Herman Berteler · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. Noordwijkerhout, Nederland:© Michel Langeveld · CC BY 4.0
10. 3566 ME Utrecht, Nederland:© Marsel · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

what is it?

The European paper wasp ( Polistes dominula , often misspelled as dominulus ) is one of the most common and well-known species of social wasps in the genus Polistes . Its diet is more diverse than that of most Polistes species (many genera of insects versus mainly caterpillars in other Polistes ), giving it superior survival value over many other wasp species during a shortage of resources.

base stats

NL sightings 742iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 108,335iNaturalist observations

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

Spotted 742 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #6 most seen of the bees, wasps & ants in NL.
108,335 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Johann Ludwig Christ in 1791 (235 years ago).