- This page contains pictures and information about the Paper Wasps in
subfamily Polistinae that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
They are also known as Papernest Wasps.
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- Wasps in this Polistinae subfamily are mostly large in size. Inner margins of their compound eyes emarginated. When rest, their fore wings folded longitudinally.
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- All the social wasps are in this Polistinae subfamily, although a few members in this
subfamily
are solitary wasps. In Australia there are two genera in this subfamily, the
genus Polistes and
Ropalidia. In this subfamily most wasps build paper nest while some build mud nest.
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- For the social species, they have highly developed social habit.
In the nest, there are the queens, males and workers. Only the queen who lays
eggs but it is difficult to distinguish between queen and workers except by
looking at their behaviour. Their nests are usually attached to a
tree, rock surface or building. There are
different species of Paper Wasps which build different type of nests.
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- Wasp paper nests can be seen in gardens and backyards. They sting and they
will
defend their nest aggressively if disturbed.
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- Paper Wasps make their nests by chewing decayed wood
mixing with their saliva. A number of hexagonal shape cup cell grouped together to form a
comb. An egg is lay in each cell. The larva develops and pupates inside the
cell, emerges and becomes an adult wasp.
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- Feeding on nectar
Preparing food for Larvae Paper nest
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- Workers forage food, i.e., caterpillars and some other soft body insects to feed the larvae in the nest. Adult wasps
feed on nectar from flowers.
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- Australian native Paper Wasps belong to two groups or genera, Polistes
and Ropalidia. They can be distinguished
by Ropalidia has the knob like segment at its waist.
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- There are two introduced species of European Paper Wasps belonging to
genus Vespula, subfamily Vespinae, which are not common in Brisbane.
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 Genus Polistes -
Large Paper Wasps- There are different species of Paper Wasps. Those wasps in genus Polistes
build inverted mushroom-shaped. They build rather small paper combs nest suspended from a
peduncle and not surrounded by an envelope. In Brisbane they are either Polistes tepidus, P. variabilis or P. townsvillensis. They are dark brown in
colour with yellow bends on dark brown abdomen. The thorax is black in colour with yellow
'V' markings. Their faces are yellow with large compound eyes.
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 Genus Ropalidia -
Small Brown
Paper Wasps- Wasps in this genus build vertical long nests. They are usually dark dull
brown in colours.
- Most species make simple, stalked, uncovered combs similar
to the Genus Polistes. Some other
species make much larger nests with many combs enclosed in an envelope. Some
others nest inside tree hollows. We found quit a number of different species in this genus in
Brisbane.
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- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 980.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus
& Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p296.
- 3. Paper
Wasp Fact Sheet - by Chris Burwell, Queensland Museum, 2006.
- 4. What wasp is that? - An interactive identification guide to the Australasian families of Hymenoptera, 2007.
- 5. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 6. Subfamily Polistinae
- Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources Study.
- 7. The
Australian social wasps (Hymenoptera : Vespidae) - Richards, OW
(1978), Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 26
, 1–132.
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