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Photo#1401933
Polistes major castaneicolor or canadensis? - Polistes canadensis - female

Polistes major castaneicolor or canadensis? - Polistes canadensis - Female
Nogales, Santa Cruz County, Arizona, USA
June 24, 2017
Attracted to mercury vapor and ultraviolet lights
Coordinates: 31.335333, -110.937993
Elevation: 3,932 ft

Images of this individual: tag all
Polistes major castaneicolor or canadensis? - Polistes canadensis - female Polistes major castaneicolor or canadensis? - Polistes canadensis - female

Congratulations!
This is the first image of a North American specimen on Bugguide that can be identified with certainty as canadensis. Luckily, you got this image which shows the narrow first abdominal segment, distinguishing this species from major castaneicolor.

 
Most welcome news!
This is the most common wasp around my house. If you wish, I could catch a few specimens and post more detailed (focus-stacked) images of the characters you deem more important to recognize this species.
Thank you Matthias!

 
Images
It would be great to get a close-up view of the thorax in lateral view. There are more diagnostic characters there. You certainly live in an amazing area for wasp diversity!

 
I plan to post additional views before the end of this week
Hopefully, in the coming years, I will contribute to document more southwestern arthropod species via photographs. Just this week, my image submissions helped generate five new pages on BugGuide (including this wasp); which motivates me to continue catching and photographing bugs as much as my other activities/responsibilities allow me.

 
Great!
We have only a few people posting wasps from Arizona on BG, but it is one of the states with the highest wasp diversity. Your work will make a great difference!

Moved
Moved from Paper Wasps.

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