#3653 · 🐝 bees, wasps & ants

Metric Paper Wasp

Polistes metricus

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

what is it?

Polistes metricus ( metricus paper wasp ) is a wasp native to North America. In the United States, it ranges throughout the southern Midwest, the South, and as far northeast as New York, but has recently been spotted in southwest Ontario. A single female specimen has also been reported from Dryden, Maine. Polistes metricus is dark colored, with yellow tarsi and black tibia. Nests of Polistes metricus can be found attached to the sides of buildings, trees, and...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 36,210iNaturalist 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.
36,210 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Thomas Say in 1831 (195 years ago).