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

European Paper Wasp

Polistes dominula

Learn European Paper Wasp freeHow it works
Wildlife study photograph from iNaturalist.
(c) alessandro_dotti, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

28 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.

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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 1,216, February 898, March 1,408, April 2,215, May 3,193, June 3,482, July 3,726, August 3,204, September 2,352, October 1,756, November 960, December 750.
United States42,765
Alaska25,160
Canada11,180
California7,875
Ontario4,772
British Columbia4,436
Washington3,518
Germany3,298
New York3,266
Colorado2,907

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

Study it in a deck

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Sources

Remember the name next time.

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

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