Paper Wasp
Polistes flavus (?)
Image taken in Phoenix, Maricopa Co., Summer, 2002.
Polistes comanchus
Image taken in Maricopa Co., Arizona, 2004. Polistes nest are made of paper and would be damaged by too much rain. Nests, therefore, are usually build in a location protected from the elements, such as under the eaves of a house.
Vespidae -- Yellow Jacket, Hornet and Paper Wasp Family
Polistes paper wasps build their nests of paper from wood fibers chewed and mixed with water and saliva. In the hot, Sonoran Desert summer, the water they require often comes from the surface of swimming pools where the wasps can usually land with graceful impunity upon the water surface. Besides paper making, the collected water is is often used for cooling the nest.
Polistes paper wasps are avid flower visitors where they take nectar to fuel their hunting escapades. They hunt a wide variety of insects such as caterpillars that they return to their nest in a chewed up form to feed to developing larvae within the cells of the paper nests.
More Information:
- Bugguide.net Univ. of Iowa
- Cooperative Extension - Univ. of Arizona
- Google Images
- Google Scholar Literature Search
- Book Reference: Venomous Animals of Arizona by Robert Smith (who was one of my profs at U.A.) available at Abe Books.
