#3644 · 🐝 bees, wasps & ants

Northern Paper Wasp

Polistes fuscatus

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

1. © Alex Shure · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © S. Queen · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Susanna Heideman · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © bizcats · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © skunk johnson · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
6. Sharon, VT, USA:© Peter Hollinger · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. 29th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, US:© bizcats · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. Michigan, US:© Janette Martin · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
9. Gainesville, FL, USA:© no rights reserved · CC0
10. Carmel, IN, USA:© haileyleroy2003 · CC BY 4.0

what is it?

Polistes fuscatus , whose common name is the golden or northern paper wasp , is widely found throughout southern Canada, the United States, and Central America. It often nests around human development. However, it greatly prefers areas in which wood is readily available for use as nest material, therefore they are also found near and in woodlands and savannas. P. fuscatus is a social wasp that is part of a complex society based around a single dominant queen...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 80,654iNaturalist 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

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
80,654 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793 (233 years ago).