What are paper wasps?
Paper wasps are closely related to yellowjacket wasps. You can tell them apart because paper wasps generally have significantly longer hind legs which hang below the abdomen in flight. Paper wasps also make smaller nests with an open, cells exposed (see photo below, right), architecture.
Paper wasps normally go about their business pretty much unnoticed. Most native (US) species make relatively small nests and locate them in out-of-the-way places. They are not aggressive so there is little threat of swarming. Paper wasps are excellent predators and unlike some scavenger yellowjackets are not interested in our picnic food.
European paper wasps are not typical paper wasps
The European paper wasp is not native to North America. It arrived in the New World sometime before 1981 appearing first in Massachusetts and has since spread westward now occurring as far west as California, Oregon and Washington. Its native range is Europe to China and is the most common paper wasp in Western Europe.
This new wasp makes a larger nest than our native paper wasp species and places these nests in more accessible places. Whereas native paper wasps build nests in high, out-of-the-way sites such as along the eves of a roof, European paper wasps build nests closer to the ground in areas where we might accidentally make contact. Numerous, hidden nests can increase the likelihood of unpleasant encounters between wasps and gardeners (see below). Finally, this wasp is such a successful colonizer that it sometimes displaces native paper wasps.
Because it is not native, the European paper wasp has experienced "ecological release" typical of other invader species that arrive without their own native predators and parasites. This has resulted in a rapid geographical spread and large populations where this wasp occurs.
Identification & misidentification
Most people, even some entomologists, misidentify this paper wasp (Polistes spp.) as a yellowjacket (Vespula spp.). It is a little larger than a typical yellowjacket but smaller than our native paper wasps and has a very similar yellow over black color pattern. European paper wasp workers are not as aggressive as yellowjacket workers but more aggressive than other paper wasps.
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