Tropical paper wasp

Polistes stigma

Polistes stigma is a small paper wasp, length 13 mm. It is rich brown colour with lighter orange brown legs and antennae. The end of the abdomen is banded with yellow. The wings have a dark spot near the tip of each forewing.
Tropical paper wasp Geotagged,India,Polistes stigma,Tropical paper wasp

Appearance

Polistes stigma has a mainly brown base colour. The legs and antennae are a lighter colour. The end of the first abdominal segment displays a narrow yellow ring. The last three segments are yellow, inter-marked with brown. The wings are the most distinctive feature; on the edge of each forewing, which are clear, there is a noticeable dark spot. This is one of the smallest Polistes species, reaching merely 14 mm on average.
Tropical Paper Wasps - Polistes stigma Maldives,Paper Wasp,Polistes stigma,Tropical Paper Wasp,Wasp

Distribution

This species has quite a wide distribution in various parts of Asia. The subspecies Polistes stigma townsvillensis and Polistes stigma bernardii are native to Australia.
Tropical Paper Wasp (Polistes stigma) Fall,Geotagged,India,Polistes stigma,Tropical paper wasp

Reproduction

Polistes stigma builds a paper nest, usually hanging downwards with open cells on the bottom.

Food

The wasps take caterpillars to feed their larvae.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://www.ozanimals.com/Insect/Tropical-Paper-Wasp/Polistes/stigma.html
http://www.vespa-bicolor.net/main/vespid/polistes-stigma.htm
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderHymenoptera
FamilyVespidae
GenusPolistes
SpeciesPolistes stigma
Photographed in
India
Maldives