# Red Paper Wasp (Polistes sp.)



## chyguy (Aug 28, 2010)

hey guys out doing yard work and saw this today on one of my fig trees   pretty crazy swarming on over ripe fruit anyways thought someone might find this intresting thanks cheyenne


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## insect714 (Aug 29, 2010)

Saw them for the first time a few weeks ago in Oklahoma. Interesting wasp to sit and watch go about it's reg. errands.


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## kevin91172 (Aug 29, 2010)

Nice..I do not believe I ever seen those?


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## Redneck (Aug 29, 2010)

Ouch! Dont get stung.. They hurt..

My neice had one fly up her shorts and sting her on the cheek.. Yeah! 
It was crazy.. Somehow it got in her undies.. Its like it stuck its stinger in and just wiggled it around..  Evil little boogers!


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## kevin91172 (Aug 29, 2010)

*Red Wasp nest on front porch*

These are the guys we have in abundance around here.Do not know the SP.

But I know the sting.My and little brother used to play chicken with these Devils when we were kids,stir the nest up and see who runs last.Learn to run fast in a zig zag manner


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## Vespula (Aug 29, 2010)

The one's in the first post are either Polistes carolina or Polistes perplexus! They're beautiful wasps that can only be distinguished apart by looking at their "Cheeks". They're great pet species. 

The ones in the second picture (post #5) are Polistes metricus, I think. Another great pet species.


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## ZergFront (Aug 29, 2010)

Really cool! They seem at least 3x the size of the black-and-yellow wasps that build a nest under a plastic bin in my backyard. I used to watch them eat ham off my finger.

 Figs, huh? They have an old soul's taste like me.


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## Tleilaxu (Aug 29, 2010)

Could be P perplexus or P carolina Both are cool wasps. More likely it could be a morph of P fuscatus or P metricus(Scientific names not spelled correctly )


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## kevin91172 (Aug 29, 2010)

Vespula said:


> The one's in the first post are either Polistes carolina or Polistes perplexus! They're beautiful wasps that can only be distinguished apart by looking at their "Cheeks". They're great pet species.
> 
> The ones in the second picture (post #5) are Polistes metricus, I think. Another great pet species.


 Pets? Huh.. I have been thinking about that.I some where on her a thread on pet wasp,but i beleive they were some yellow sp.? I would have to look into that...food,enclosure etc...


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## Tleilaxu (Aug 29, 2010)

The "best" pet wasps to start with seem to be Polistes fuscatus and dominula. Nicing thing about fuscatus is it comes in lots of colors and is generally laid back, dominula is a bit more jumpy but does eventually calm down. Yellowjackets and hornets are the worst.


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## kevin91172 (Aug 29, 2010)

Tleilaxu said:


> The "best" pet wasps to start with seem to be Polistes fuscatus and dominula. Nicing thing about fuscatus is it comes in lots of colors and is generally laid back, dominula is a bit more jumpy but does eventually calm down. Yellowjackets and hornets are the worst.


Very interesting....THANKS


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## kevin91172 (Aug 29, 2010)

Tleilaxu said:


> The "best" pet wasps to start with seem to be Polistes fuscatus and dominula. Nicing thing about fuscatus is it comes in lots of colors and is generally laid back, dominula is a bit more jumpy but does eventually calm down. Yellowjackets and hornets are the worst.


Are those the species and your attached photos by chance?


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## Tleilaxu (Aug 29, 2010)

Both pics in the sig are Polistes fuscatus, or at least in the color variety for MN.

OP post that pic to www.bugguide.net thats an azmazing pic of a cool feeding behavior.


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## kevin91172 (Aug 29, 2010)

Tleilaxu said:


> Both pics in the sig are Polistes fuscatus, or at least in the color variety for MN.


 Do not believe I have seen any of those around here,these guys on the porch do not seem to aggressive..I keep them there because it broke my 11 year the phobia on wasps.Go figure he handles t's and scorps but not the nasty ones.

  But up till a month ago freaked on wasps,even buzzing noises near him.He never been stung but a 3 months ago picked something up and a huge wasp nest was looking at him dead in the face, but they did not "GET" him

  He is coming around just fine now.


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## Vespula (Aug 30, 2010)

Tleilaxu said:


> Could be P perplexus or P carolina Both are cool wasps. More likely it could be a morph of P fuscatus or P metricus(Scientific names not spelled correctly )


The all orange body makes me say P. carolina or perplexus for the first pic. The second one could be fuscatus, but I can't tell from that picture. By the way, you did spell those names correctly.  

It's cool to meet another wasp Keeper on here! There are too few of us in the world.


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## kripp_keeper (Aug 30, 2010)

Growing up in Texas close to the coast I had a lot of fun with "red wasp". They used to build their nest at the top of our swing set. I got stung more then once. 







kevin91172 said:


> But I know the sting.My and little brother used to play chicken with these Devils when we were kids,stir the nest up and see who runs last.Learn to run fast in a zig zag manner


Next time you play just drop down in the grass, and don't move.


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