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Photo#13387
Blackjacket - Vespula consobrina - female

Blackjacket - Vespula consobrina - Female
Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada
August 31, 2004
Size: about 10 mm
On Pearly Everlasting in clearing of coniferous forest. I think this is a female because it has one less abdominal segment than the male in Kildale's photo. I haven't seen this species in southern Ontario; maybe it occurs farther north?

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Blackjacket worker
It's OK for the gender, but specifying the caste, too, can be useful. This species is actually very uncommon, if not totally lacking, south of a broken line Winnipeg-Ottawa-Boston, except in mountain regions. Coniferous forest is indeed its preferred habitat.
By the way, congratulations for the quality of the photograph. I am always staggered how some people manage to take picture of so shy, nervous insects like yellowjackets - and more generally aculeate hymenopterans - from so near.

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