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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) » Polistes bellicosus

Species Polistes bellicosus

Polistes bellicosus - female Wasp along beach road - Polistes bellicosus - male Water wasp? - Polistes bellicosus unid polistes - Polistes bellicosus - female wasp-polistes? - Polistes bellicosus Polistes dorsalis? exclamans? grooming: cleaning abdomen, wings, face, legs - Polistes bellicosus - male Polistes (bellicosus?) - Polistes bellicosus Polistes - Polistes bellicosus
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)
Species bellicosus (Polistes bellicosus)
Explanation of Names
Polistes bellicosus Cresson, 1872
from the Latin bellicōsus ('warlike, fierce, bellicose')
Identification
hind femora completely red, clypeus typically at least 50% yellow.(1)
NB: earlier keys such as (2) do not properly separate this species from P. fuscatus

Variation: "Individuals with spotted tergum 2 (and sometimes following) are fairly common at the western edge of the range in central and southcentral Texas."(3) "Their range apparently does not overlap with red forms of aurifer but they do with texanus. However, there appears to be no texanus in southern Texas."(4) — Matthias Buck
Range
NY south to FL, west to TX(1)
Habitat
Primarily coastal(1)
Works Cited
1.Identification Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the Northeastern Nearctic Region
Matthias Buck, Stephen A. Marshall, and David K. B. Cheung. 2008. Biological Survey of Canada [Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification].
2.The Social Wasps of the Americas Excluding the Vespinae
Richards, O.W. 1978. British Museum (Natural History).
3.Paper Wasp
4.polistes
Contributed by Sean McCann on 20 September, 2006 - 1:46pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Matthias Buck, Chuck Entz, v belov, PaleoJon, bdagley
Last updated 16 October, 2023 - 6:21pm

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