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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and other Stinging Wasps » Ants, Stinging Wasps, and Hornets (Vespoidea) » Yellowjackets, Paper Wasps, and Hornets; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps (Vespidae) » Paper Wasps (Polistinae) » Polistes » perplexus/carolina group (Polistes perplexus/carolina group)
Photo#133364
Red Wasp - Polistes carolinus - Polistes - female
Copyright © 2007 Sam Houston

Red Wasp - Polistes carolinus - Polistes - Female
Sand Springs, Osage County, Oklahoma, USA
August 1, 2007
Size: 1"
Here is the Red Wasp attacking and eating the grasshopper I talked about earlier in the forum here http://bugguide.net/node/view/133256#170326.

Please confirm the ID and if you can tell if this is a male or female.

Images of this individual: tag all
Red Wasp - Polistes carolinus - Polistes - female Red Wasp - Polistes carolinus - Polistes - female Red Wasp - Polistes carolinus - Polistes - female Red Wasp - Polistes carolinus - Polistes - female Red Wasp - Polistes carolinus - Polistes - female
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Contributed by Sam Houston on 2 August, 2007 - 7:08pm
Last updated 7 February, 2009 - 6:45pm

Moved
Moved from Red Wasp.
… Beatriz Moisset, 7 February, 2009 - 6:45pm login or register to post comments

Questionable ID
Reading Eric's comments and the ones on the info page it sounds like this shouldn't be here but at genus level.
… Beatriz Moisset, 6 February, 2009 - 3:18pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Polistes.
… Sam Houston, 26 September, 2007 - 5:49pm login or register to post comments

Yes
this definitly looks like polistes carolinus, female.(you can tell its a female by the antennea, and the fact that it is attacking a grasshopper. A male wouldent go hunting for prey.)
… vulgaris, 2 August, 2007 - 7:16pm login or register to post comments

 
Not so sure.
Could well be P. carolinus, but P. perplexus is identical excepting the punctation of the ocular-malar space (which can only be seen under magnification). All my specimens from Taney County, Missouri keyed out to P. perplexus, so that is why I am suspicious:-)
… Eric R. Eaton, 3 August, 2007 - 3:54pm login or register to post comments

 
All
of the wasps that i have seen that look like this i have been IDing as P. carolinus. I had no idea that there was another species so similar. Thanks for the info!
… vulgaris, 3 August, 2007 - 4:00pm login or register to post comments

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