Hi.

Thanks for asking about my post. As somebody just interested in nature in general, expert in little if anything, I'm always happy when I get a picture that might contribute knowledge or understanding to anybody!

I appreciate the field-mark comments for future reference.

I recently moved, but at time was living in a complex of townhomes and apartments. The townhome I lived in was situated near a greenbelt of 25 acres set aside for preservation, and the back of the building was perhaps 20 feet from the edge of the greenbelt. This gap between building and greenbelt was overlayed with brown beauty bark generally once a year in the spring, sometimes every other year. A few scattered plants (weeds) might grow through, and some blackberry vines would begin creeping toward the buildings, but generally there was not vegetation in the immediate area.

Behind three units of the complex along this greenbelt, the complex left deck boards that were replaced with new ones a few years back. I make sure the wood was not touching the back of the buildings, and notified them that they'd been left, but they never got picked up. So over time I began to find them interesting places to look for bugs and particularly salamanders, and an occasional frog. She was found where multiple boards had been left close together or overlapping each other - it was a place I would check at least every few days - so I knew she must not have been there too long.

QUESTIONS:

(1) The greenbelt itself was primarily deciduous, with a few firs or cedars mixed in. Ground cover included both native blackberry (forget species but can find if needed), invasive Himalayan blackberry, lots of "Indian Plum", some sword ferns, elderberry or similar berrying bush, a few snowberry shrubs, and so on.

(2), (4) Yes, the picture you see is actually the underside of the board... she is stuck to it, as is some of the ground debris (tiny fragments of beauty bark, other litter in various stages of decay, and some dirt visible under this bark/litter layer) The board itself was laying flat on the surface, but was likely sloped perhaps 5-10 degrees from some slope on the ground.

(3) If by horizontal posture you are asking was she laying flat relative to the plane of her body from stinger to antennae, yes. In otherwords, as if a human was sleeping on their slide on their bed. Hope this is clear.

I must chuckle with your explanation that you are Japanese. Not at all that you are from a specific culture, but rather had you not said so, very little in the note would have suggested to me that a non-native English speaking individual (English being a second or non-primary language) would have written this. And this is something that is often quite obvious to me, but in today's world, going now from emails to IMs, English (and other languages I'm sure) is being grammatically corrupted all the time for the sake of brevity, so I don't think many will notice or would have a concern. It's more likely I struggle a bit to sort out the entomological-speak (terms used by biologists/entomologists) to ensure I understand those references.

You ARE good at English in my opinion.

Please feel free to ask more questions if you have any.


P.S.
I went back and found I still have this picture on the computer, along with the pictures before and after. I shared this picture as the best shot for identification. However, I find the first picture of her she is face-up attached to the wood. I don't know if she might have tilted to her side, or whether I might have gently touched her wondering if she was still alive, but I do know I would not wish to disturb a process of hibernation/torpor she might have been in. I had to work hard to try and make sure I perfectly aligned the wood back down, and I put a very slight wood chip in off to the side to make sure there was a tiny bit of space. Perhaps a week later I checked, now lifting the wood even more carefully and only up a slight bit, and she was gone. I felt badly - I would have given up the chance of the picture rather than risk her ability to successfully hibernate. She probably found another location nearby, but I'm hopefully she had the necessary energy left to create another hibernaculum (if that's the correct term here).

Let me know and I can post that other picture I spoke of.

Marsh
Crazy About Nature
https://www.facebook.com/CrazyAboutNature

Dear Mr. AnimalGuy,

I appreciate your quick, kind answer. Your message is thoughtful, detailed, and very helpful for me. But because of my poverty of English ability, I’m not sure if I understand correctly. The followings are my understanding. Would you mind checking them?

Understanding 1: The queen was in an almost horizontal position under the deck board as opposed to the ground.
First of all, I'm sorry I couldn't express the word“horizontal ”well. Please let me explain it. There are two types of hibernating posture in Japanese wasps.
Type1: Queen is holding onto the sidewall of her hibernaculum with vertical posture.
Type2: Queen is clinging to the ceiling of her hibernaculum with horizontal posture.
Understanding 2: The place you found the queen is not well shaded. This is because there is no vegetation and only deck boards are laid there. In Japan, most hibernating queens are found at the place well shaded.

And furthermore, I have new questions. Could you answer them?

Question 1: What degree is the angle of the slope? The approximate angle is all right, and as well as you remember it. In Japan, most hibernating queens are found at a slope. The angle of slope is between about 40degree and 70degree.
Question 2: I guess the place you found the queen must be north side of building. Is it right? This is because low temperature is indispensable for hibernating.
Question 3: How is the posture of the queen in your first photo? In Japan, Type2Queen (clinging to the ceiling) is always face-up attached to the ceiling. I’m so happy if can see your first photo.

I’ve learned a lot from your message. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your kindness. I’ll keep on both investigating wasps and learning English. I want to tell brilliance of nature to many people. I hope you good luck and pleasure with your studies and your life.

Postscript
I’m so sure that Vl. consobrina queen you found will successfully hibernate. I have found more than 1600 hibernating wasps in these 30 years. After having been investigating, most of them overwintered well. So I guess the Vl. consobrina queen is still in her small room and dreaming of flying in the spring sky.

Yuichi Izawa
E-mail: yizawa2@zb3.so-net.ne.jp

This looks to be a hibernating queen of Vespula consobrina.