Insects › Hornets, Paper Wasps, Potter Wasps, and Allies
Unstable Paper Wasp
Polistes instabilis
25 photos
Study shows up to four per card, from different observers, so you learn the species rather than one picture. Heart the good ones and swap any you do not like.
Photos you add are credited to you, and you keep the copyright.
Easily confused with
Guinea Paper WaspPolistes exclamans
Hunter's Little Paper WaspPolistes dorsalis
Mexican Paper WaspMischocyttarus mexicanus
Variegated Paper WaspPolistes versicolor
Caribbean Paper WaspPolistes crinitus
Polistes oculatus
Horse Paper WaspPolistes major
Polistes stabilinus
Study checks a spoken answer against these, and tells you which one you named.
Where it is recorded
| Mexico | 2,539 |
|---|---|
| Jalisco | 435 |
| United States | 321 |
| Texas | 321 |
| Sinaloa | 312 |
| Oaxaca | 237 |
| Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave | 226 |
| Costa Rica | 217 |
| Nayarit | 140 |
| Chiapas | 129 |
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
| Kingdom | Animals · Animalia |
|---|---|
| Phylum | Arthropods · Arthropoda |
| Class | Insects · Insecta |
| Order | Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies · Hymenoptera |
| Family | Hornets, Paper Wasps, Potter Wasps, and Allies · Vespidae |
| Genus | Umbrella Paper Wasps · Polistes |
Sources
- Names, taxonomy and observation counts: www.inaturalist.org
- Photos and recordings: the creator and source are on each one.
- How much to rely on each source
Remember the name next time.
Practise Unstable Paper Wasp with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.