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European paper wasp's nest
Polistes dominula
44.4906, 8.96764
Field Notes
Description:
I found them in a old tin shack.
Nests are begun by overwintered founding queens or foundresses, which spend about a month in the spring constructing a nest and provisioning offspring, the first of which will become daughter workers in the growing colony. Males are produced later, and when they start to appear, a few daughters may mate and leave their nest, to become foundresses the next season. The switch from production of workers to production of future foundresses (gynes) is not utterly abrupt, as has been considered the case for other species of Polistes.
The colony disperses in the late summer, with only males and future foundresses produced instead of workers, and individuals frequently cluster in groups (called a hibernaculum) to over-winter. Hibernation does not usually take place on former nest sites.
Habitat:
The native range of P. dominula covers much of southern Europe and North Africa, and temperate parts of Asia as far east as China. It has also been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and North and South America.
This species was introduced into the United States in 1968 in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and spread throughout most of the country during the 1980s and '90s, in some cases partially replacing native species.[citation needed] Another introduction was discovered in the late 1970s in Cambridge, Newton and Somerville, Massachusetts. The first wave consisted of solitary-founding but socially-nesting individuals, then a wave of social founders (several females found a new nest together). In warmer regions, there have been reports of "supercolonizers" most of whom enlarge their natal nests in successive years, rather than dispersing.
In the United States, P. dominula nests earlier in the spring, in a wider variety of nest sites, and feeds on a larger variety of insects than native species, which feed almost exclusively on caterpillars. Most entomologists consider it to be an invasive species. This wasp can be mistaken for a yellowjacket, as it is black strongly marked with yellow, in a pattern very reminiscent of a yellowjacket, and quite different from the native North
Notes:
Dominant individuals of P. dominula have differing cuticular profiles to workers, and the frequent observations of the dominant female stroking its gasters across the nest surface, combined with its staying on the nest for longer times than subordinates, suggests the dominant individual may contribute more to the nest odour.
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