Southern Paper Wasp

Appearance

Males and females have lemon-yellow abdominal segments. Females have a fine, central, longitudinal, black line along the mesothorax, which is transversely wrinkled. The mesothorax in males has two longitudinal lines on the side. Both sexes have yellow mandibles and narrow posterior orbits that are broader toward the bottom. Although caste separations are present in "P. bellicosus", females in the colony are not morphologically different.

Distribution

"P. bellicosus" generally establish colonies within Texas, though the range has been observed to include North Carolina and Florida. Colonies naturally occur on "Baccharis" sp., "Ilex vomitoria", and "Rubus" sp. in native prairies at Brazos Bend State Park, near Houston, Texas. Several other paper wasp species—including "Polistes exclamans", "P. dorsalis", "P. metricus", and "P. carolina"—are found in Brazos Bend State Park due to the multiple types of habitats present, including native shortgrass prairie and oak forest.

Habitat

"P. bellicosus" generally establish colonies within Texas, though the range has been observed to include North Carolina and Florida. Colonies naturally occur on "Baccharis" sp., "Ilex vomitoria", and "Rubus" sp. in native prairies at Brazos Bend State Park, near Houston, Texas. Several other paper wasp species—including "Polistes exclamans", "P. dorsalis", "P. metricus", and "P. carolina"—are found in Brazos Bend State Park due to the multiple types of habitats present, including native shortgrass prairie and oak forest.

Reproduction

Along with the genetic similarity, the phylogeny of the larva is also explained using morphological characteristics. Starting at the head, larvae are often dark brown. The body is widest at the anterior part of the abdomen and tapers towards the posterior end. The circular, slender mandible is weakly chitinized. From the mandible extend two or three pointed teeth. "Polistes" larval mandibles function in opening and closing the mouth for intaking food. Larval mandibles are both longer and narrower than the mandibles of "Vespa" larvae. Secreted saliva may aid in food-reception for the larvae. Compared to Vespinae, the pleural lobes of Polistinae are less conspicuous.

Predators

The likelihood of foundress death increases at a constant rate the more time she spends away from the nest. Once the first workers emerge in late spring, the foundresses no longer leave the nests and the foundress death decreases significantly. This suggests that foundress death is associated with tasks that occur outside of the nest—such as foraging for food or other resources. In instances where the foundress dies outside the nest, likely due to predation, the brood is left defenseless and is observed to die of starvation. Furthermore, errors in nest site choice likely contribute to foundress mortality. Previously successful nest sites are typically better than new sites. As a result, foundresses that attempt to establish nests in new sites have a higher chance of mortality.Predators are known to knock down and remove entire nests to eat the larvae inside. In the case of ant predation, the ants overwhelm the nest and only frayed remnants are left. However, ant predation in "P. bellicosus" is observed to be much less common than predation by vertebrates. Among possible vertebrate predators are birds, raccoons, and opossums. Predators either remove the nest whole or in large, broken pieces. The long colony cycle—from spring to late autumn—along with the common predation often requires that the wasps create a new nest at least once during a season. In addition, the chances of a nest being removed or destroyed do not decrease with size of the colony. Thus, larger colonies are at equal risk of predation as smaller colonies.