Paper Wasp

Paper wasps belong to the genus Polistes within the family Vespidae, order Hymenoptera, with several hundred species distributed across temperate and tropical regions worldwide. The European paper wasp, Polistes dominula, has become widely established in North America alongside numerous native Polistes species.

This group is notable for constructing small, open-faced, umbrella-shaped nests made of a papery material created by chewing wood fibers mixed with saliva, with hexagonal cells visible from below and no outer envelope covering them, unlike the enclosed nests built by yellow jackets and hornets.

Ecologically, paper wasps are valuable predators of caterpillars and other soft-bodied insect pests, which they capture to feed their developing larvae, giving them an important role in natural pest regulation within gardens and agricultural areas.

• Slender body with a narrow, elongated waist and long legs that dangle noticeably during flight.
• Coloring typically reddish-brown to black with yellow markings, though patterns vary by species.
• Two pairs of smoky or amber-tinted wings folded lengthwise at rest.
• Longer, more slender build overall compared to the stockier yellow jacket.
• Lookalikes: yellow jackets are smooth, stockier, and more sharply black-and-yellow banded, and their legs are held close to the body in flight rather than dangling.

Paper wasps are found on every continent except Antarctica, favoring sheltered structures such as eaves, porch ceilings, window frames, and dense garden vegetation for nesting. They are active from spring through fall, becoming most visible as colonies grow through summer, and overwinter as fertilized queens in sheltered cracks or bark crevices.

Paper wasps hunt caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects, chewing captured prey into a pulp to feed their larvae, while adults themselves feed on nectar and sugary plant fluids. They construct their signature open, umbrella-shaped paper nest by mixing chewed wood fiber with saliva. Colonies are relatively small, usually numbering a few dozen individuals, and while generally less defensive than yellow jackets, they can sting if their nest is directly disturbed.

Paper wasps undergo complete metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. In spring, one or more overwintered queens found a small paper nest and begin laying eggs into individual hexagonal cells; larvae are fed captured insect prey and eventually pupate within capped cells before emerging as adult workers. The colony grows through summer, producing new queens and males by late summer, after which the colony declines with cold weather, leaving only mated queens to overwinter and start new nests the following spring.