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Photo#352488
Paper Wasp - Polistes - male

Paper Wasp - Polistes - Male
Mobile (Dog River), Mobile County, Alabama, USA
November 14, 2009
Perhaps male polistes bellicosus?

Images of this individual: tag all
Paper Wasp - Polistes - male Paper Wasp - Polistes - male

Moved
Moved from Polistes bahamensis. I am revising my ID. Males of exclamans and bahamensis are very hard to separate and I am currently unaware of any distinguishing characters that are reliable (even with a specimen). Based on your location P. exclamans seems more likely.

Polistes bahamensis, male (AL)
This seems to be the first picture of a male of this species on Bugguide. Note the slender first abdominal segment and the antennal pattern which distinguish this species and the closely related exclamans from species of the fuscatus group (dorsalis, etc.).

This could well be this one.
Seems to be slenderer than P. dorsalis at any rate. But Dr Buck's confirmation would be safer.