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Species Vespula consobrina - Blackjacket

Blackjacket - Vespula consobrina - male Blackjacket - Vespula consobrina Blackjacket - Vespula consobrina - male Another wasp pollinating narrow-leaved meadowsweet - Vespula consobrina Vespid - Blackjacket? - Vespula consobrina - male Wasp IMG_4651 - Vespula consobrina Vespid - Vespula consobrina Vespula consobrina? - Vespula consobrina - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Vespoidea
Family Vespidae (Hornets, Yellowjackets; Paper, Potter, Mason, and Pollen Wasps; and Allies)
Subfamily Vespinae (Hornets and Yellowjackets)
Genus Vespula (Ground Yellowjackets)
Species consobrina (Blackjacket)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Once treated as a form of the Palearctic Vespula rufa.
Explanation of Names
The specific name consobrina is Latin for a maternal first cousin (feminine), probably in reference to the close relationship to Vespula rufa, with which V. consobrina was once considered conspecific.
Size
Queens about 17 mm, males 15-16 mm, workers 10-12 mm
Identification
Key to eastern Nearctic Vespula species in the Identification Atlas of the Vespidae of the Northeastern Nearctic Region.(1)
Key to Nearctic Vespinae genera in the Identification Atlas of the Vespidae of the Northeastern Nearctic Region.(1)

A small to large black and white/ivory wasp with pale posterior bands of various widths on most of the abdominal tergites. The compound eye almost touches the mandible (jaw). This feature places this insect in the genus Vespula.


Queens
Of 9 queens examined from New Brunswick, all have a pale face with a black spot in the lower half. In 3 specimens, this spot reaches the base of the face while in the remaining 6 it does not. All 9 have the pale genal band behind the eye with the upper half present. In 7, a smaller pale spot is present in the lower half while absent in the remaining 2. All queens examined have entirely black antennae. The humeral band on the side of the thorax varies from broad to about half that width. In all queens, the 1st tergite lacks any pale band. A queen from Pennsylvania has an interrupted pale band on tergite 1, more extensive pale markings on the subsequent tergites, and isolated black spots on tergites 4 and 5.

Workers
Of 4 workers examined from New Brunswick, 1 has an incomplete central black spot on the face while 2 have a complete spot resembling that of a queen (the remaining 1's face was not photographed). The antennae, genal band, and humeral band are similar to the variations seen in the queens. 3 of the workers lack a pale band on tergite 1 while the remaining 1 has an interrupted pale band on tergite 1.

Males
Of 3 males examined from New Brunswich, 2 have a black spot on the lower half of the face while the remaining 1 has this mark broken up into 3 smaller spots. All of the males have spall pale dashes on the ventral surface of the antennal scape, but these are not immediately obvious. The pale genal band is complete. All 3 males have a centrally interrupted band on the posterior margin of tergite 1, and pale bands on the posterior of tergites 2-6.
   
Queen (♀♀) Worker (♀) Male (♂)
Range
Northern, including much of Canada but not reaching Alaska. Coastal in the western USA reaching southern California, south in the mountains in the east.
Habitat
A species of forests. Nests are subterranean, typically in rodent burrows. May be above ground in logs, rock cavities, walls of houses. Nests are small, usually less than 100 workers.
Season
Nests are short-lived with queens and males produced as early as September
Food
Feed on sugary substances, otherwise feed on live prey only.
See Also
V. consobrina, is one of 5 black and white/ivory-marked yellowjacket species. Two of these 5 species however have reddish patches laterally on the tergites: on tergite 2 in D. albida; on tergites 1 and 2 in V. intermedia. V. consobrina most closely resembles D. maculata and D. arctica. D. maculata has an entirely black tergite 2, whereas the other 2 species each have a pale posterior band on tergite 2. Thus, V. consobrina and D. arctica are the most identical in coloration.

   
Queen (♀♀) Worker (♀) Male (♂)

   
Queen (♀♀) Worker (♀) Male (♂)

Queens: Dorsally these 2 queens are almost identical. However, in V. consobrina, the pale posterior bands on tergites 3, 4, and 5 are complete (i.e., uninterrupted in the mid-line). In D. arctica, each pale band is interrupted by a black extension from the anterior part of the segment. On the face, the 1st antennal segment is completely black in V. consobrina versus extensively pale in D. arctica. The oculo-malar space is narrow in V. consobrina (a character of the genus Vespula), and wide in D. arctica (a character of the genus Dolichovespula). Both species have an incomplete genal band. In V. consobrina, the lower spot is small or absent, while in D. arctica both spots are of equal size separated by only a small black spot.

Workers: V. consobrina workers are distinctive as no other yellowjacket has their body pattern, which is largely due to D. arctica lacking a worker caste. (D. norwegica never has tergum 1 completely black. D. adulterina is similar, but V. consobrina females don't have free black spots on any of the terga.)

Males: Male V. consobrina are almost identical to male D. arctica, even to the extent of having a pale patch on the ventral surface of the scape that is absent in the female V. consobrina. However, there are subtle differences in the tergites as male V. consobrina have the pale posterior bands on the tergites uninterrupted at the mid-line and wider than those of D. arctica. Male D. arctica have the pale bands on the tergites almost completely interrupted medially by black posterior pointing extensions.
 
Queen (♀♀) Male (♂)

   
Queen (♀♀) Worker (♀) Male (♂)
Print References
Kimsey, L.S. & Carpenter, J.M. (2012): The Vespinae of North America (Vespidae, Hymenoptera). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 28: 37–65; doi: 10.3897/JHR.28.3514.
Internet References
Species page in Species-ID.net
Works Cited
1.Identification Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the Northeastern Nearctic Region
Matthias Buck, Stephen A. Marshall, and David K. B. Cheung. 2008. Biological Survey of Canada [Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification].