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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Vespoidea » Hornets, Yellowjackets; Paper, Potter, Mason, and Pollen Wasps; and Allies (Vespidae) » Paper Wasps (Polistinae) » Umbrella Paper Wasps (Polistes) » Subgenus Fuscopolistes (Polistes Subgenus Fuscopolistes)

Subgenus Fuscopolistes

Classification · Other Common Names · Identification

Paper wasp grooming itself - Polistes fuscatus - female

Paper Wasp - Polistes dorsalis - female

Paper Wasp on Buckwheat - Polistes dorsalis

Polistes Bellicosus? - Polistes fuscatus - female

Wasp IMG_3365 - Polistes fuscatus

Polistes dorsalis californicus (?) - Polistes dorsalis - female

Polistes - Polistes fuscatus - male

Red Shouldered Wasp in February - Polistes metricus

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 Polistinae (Paper Wasps)

Genus Polistes (Umbrella Paper Wasps)

No Taxon Subgenus Fuscopolistes

Other Common Names

Several species are known regionally as 'red paper wasps' or 'red wasps'

Identification

The species of Polistes (Fuscopolistes) have duller antennal tips (never 4 segments bright orange, but occasionally a couple at the apex that are a dull brown-orange) and the first segment of the gaster about as long as wide (in dorsal view).

This subgenus is also represented as the P. fuscatus species-group, which includes P. apachus, P. aurifer, P. bellicosus, P. carolina, P. dorsalis, P. flavus, P. fuscatus, P. hirsuticornis P. metricus, P. parametricus and P. rubiginosus.

VISUAL GUIDE TO SPECIES OF OUR FAUNA

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P. apachus

P. apachus "texanus" variant with no yellow lines on scutum (much like red variant of P. aurifer), which may represent a separate species

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P. aurifer

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P. aurifer "centralis" red color variant

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P. bellicosus

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P. carolina

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P. dorsalis dorsalis

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P. dorsalis californicus

P. dorsalis central (particularly Texan) form (regarded as subspecies neotropicus by Richards, though this is disjunct from the true population, which occurs from Veracruz, Mexico, to Costa Rica)

P. dorsalis Arizonan form (seemingly treated under the subspecies californicus by Richards)

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P. flavus

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P. fuscatus

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P. hirsuticornis

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P. metricus

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P. parametricus

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P. rubiginosus

Contributed by Jonathan Hoskins on 6 August, 2021 - 1:37am
Additional contributions by v belov
Last updated 12 April, 2022 - 10:34pm

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