Insects › Hornets, Paper Wasps, Potter Wasps, and Allies

Red-banded Yellowjacket

Vespula rufa

Easily confused with

Study checks a spoken answer against these, and tells you which one you named.

Where it is recorded

Records by month in Alaska.January 513, February 379, March 594, April 934, May 1,347, June 1,469, July 1,572, August 1,352, September 992, October 741, November 405, December 316.
United States10,618
Alaska10,615
Russia376
Finland266
Sweden179
Germany125
United Kingdom88
Austria83
Moscow Oblast71
Denmark65

Counts show where people looked, not only where it lives.

Traits

Behavioral

  • EusocialLives in colonies with division of labor and cooperative brood careFrom its classification

Physical

  • ExoskeletonHas a hard external skeletonFrom its classification

Practical

  • StingingCan deliver a painful stingFrom its classification

Classification

KingdomAnimals · Animalia
PhylumArthropods · Arthropoda
ClassInsects · Insecta
OrderAnts, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies · Hymenoptera
FamilyHornets, Paper Wasps, Potter Wasps, and Allies · Vespidae
GenusGround Yellowjackets · Vespula

Sources

Remember the name next time.

Practise Red-banded Yellowjacket with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.