Polistes annularis
Polistes annularis
''Polistes annularis'' is a species of paper wasp which lives in North America. A eusocial wasp, ''P. annularis'' demonstrates behavior typical of other Polistine wasps, such as a dominance hierarchy, relatively small colony size, and a female-biased sex ratio. Unlike other wasps, ''P. annularis'' is relatively robust in winter conditions, and has also been observed to store honey in advance of hibernation. It is closely related to ''P. major, P. buysonni,'' and others in the subgenus Aphanilopterus, and slightly less related to the more common ''P. bellicosus, P. carolina, P. metricus,'' and ''P. fuscatus''.