Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowseInfoImagesLinksBooksData
Photo#152074
Eastern Yellowjackets - Vespula maculifrons

Eastern Yellowjackets - Vespula maculifrons
Cross Plains, Dane County, Wisconsin, USA
September 16, 2007
Late this summer I started emptying the hummingbird feeders into a dish for the wasps when I refilled the feeders for the birds. This provided a good opportunity to get photos of large numbers of wasps. I filled the dish to the top with the sugar mixture and by the end of the day the dish was empty. The sticks and leaves are in the dish to provide footholds for the wasps because otherwise they ended up drowning in the water. I think this photo shows all V. maculifrons. Other wasps and hornets did occasionally show up but the majority of wasps seemed to be V. maculifrons (if I am correct in my ID, that is!).

A short majority of these many workers...
are actually Downy Yellowjackets (Vespula flavopilosa), e.g. the individual lower right on the edge of the feeder. Of course, there are several Eastern too, e.g. the individual at extreme left, also on the edge of the feeder. Both (closely related) species seem to mix themselves quite peacefully at such rich sugar sources.

 
wow! cool!
i see lots germanica in there too!
i have tried the same thing in my yard, but bald faced hornets quickly chased off the yellowjackets and european hornets...

 
Cool I didn't know V. flavopi
Cool I didn't know V. flavopilosa occurred in Wisconsin.

Comment viewing options
Select your preferred way to display the comments and click 'Save settings' to activate your changes.