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Sticker of Hunter's little paper wasp
Bug card No. 2308 of 4,939

Hunter's little paper wasp

Polistes dorsalis

Hunter's little paper wasp is a slim wasp with orange, yellow, brown and black stripes. It has a yellow V shape on its head. It builds a nest out of paper that it makes itself, hidden in quiet places close to the ground.

Lives in
North and Central America, especially the southeastern United States, in fields and gardens
Top speed
about 22 km/h (14 mph)
Flying, estimate
What does it eat?
Like other paper wasps, it catches small insects to feed its young.
For real!Photo of Hunter's little paper wasp
Picture by (c) Adrienne van den Beemt, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is one of the smaller paper wasps.

2

It hides its nest under rocks or inside hollow logs, where enemies cannot easily find it.

3

In each nest the queen is the boss, and the workers have different jobs.

you asked

Most asked questions about Hunter's little paper wasp

?Where does Hunter's little paper wasp build its nest?

In sheltered, hidden places close to the ground, like rock piles and hollow logs.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Polistes dorsalis
Named by
Fabricius, 1775
Group
Wasps and hornets
Family
Vespidae
Classification
Insecta > Hymenoptera > Vespidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Polistes dorsalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by (c) Adrienne van den Beemt, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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