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

Hunter's Little Paper Wasp

Polistes dorsalis

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 Texas.January 271, February 259, March 295, April 559, May 342, June 265, July 227, August 207, September 261, October 471, November 316, December 247.
United States8,648
Texas5,033
Mexico837
California827
Georgia563
Louisiana450
Alabama422
North Carolina336
Chihuahua237
Mississippi234

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
GenusUmbrella Paper Wasps · Polistes

Sources

Remember the name next time.

Practise Hunter's Little Paper Wasp with real photos from different observers. Say the name out loud, and it comes back just before you would forget it.