Polistinae
Sign in to saveAlso known as Paper wasp
The Polistinae is a subfamily of eusocial wasps belonging to the family Vespidae. They are closely related to the yellowjackets and true hornets of the subfamily Vespinae and are divided into four tribes. With about 1,100 species total, it is the second-most diverse subfamily within the Vespidae, and while most species are tropical or subtropical, they include some of the most frequently encountered large wasps in temperate regions.
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 66
- With media
- 18
- Family
- Vespidae
- Collections
- UMNH, UCSB, SDNHM
- Recorded in
- United States, Mexico
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
11 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Colony life cycle
- Genera
- Tribe [[Epiponini]] <small>Lucas, 1867</small>
- Tribe [[Mischocyttarini]] <small>Carpenter, 1993</small>
- Tribe [[Polistini]] <small>Lepeletier, 1836</small>
- Tribe [[Ropalidiini]] <small>Bequaert, 1918</small>
- Tribe ''[[incertae sedis]]''
- Gallery
- References
- External links
The Polistinae is a subfamily of eusocial wasps belonging to the family Vespidae. They are closely related to the yellowjackets and true hornets of the subfamily Vespinae and are divided into four tribes. With about 1,100 species total, it is the second-most diverse subfamily within the Vespidae, and while most species are tropical or subtropical, they include some of the most frequently encountered large wasps in temperate regions.
The English common name for Polistinae is paper wasp. Many polistines, such as Polistes fuscatus, Polistes annularis, and Polistes exclamans, make their nests out of paper. Despite being called paper wasps, other wasps (including the wasps in the subfamily Vespinae) also build nests out of paper. Additionally, epiponine wasps in the subgenus Polybia (Pedothoeca), such as Polybia emaciata, build their nests out of mud despite being Polistinae.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Polistinae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.