Polistes carolina facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Polistes carolina |
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| Female P. carolina from Kendall County, Texas | |
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The Polistes carolina is a type of red paper wasp found in the eastern United States. It's known for its reddish-brown head and body. These wasps are social insects, meaning they live in groups. They build some of the biggest nests among all wasp species. They like to build their nests in safe, hidden spots. You can find them from Texas to Florida, and as far north as New York. They have also been seen in Bermuda and Canada, but they are not native there.
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About the Red Paper Wasp
The first time Polistes carolina was described was in 1767 by a scientist named Carl Linnaeus. He first called it Vespa carolina. Later, in 1855, it was moved into the Polistes group, which is where paper wasps belong.
P. carolina is part of the Vespidae family. This family includes almost all social wasps and many solitary wasps. Within this family, P. carolina belongs to the Polistinae group, which are the paper wasps. These wasps are known for starting new colonies in two main ways: either with many workers and queens, or with just a few workers and founding queens. P. carolina uses the second way, starting with just a few founding queens.
Scientists have found that P. carolina is most closely related to another wasp called P. metricus.
What Does a Red Paper Wasp Look Like?
Red paper wasps, both males and females, are usually about 25 to 32 millimeters (about 1 to 1.25 inches) long. Their wings are black and can be 15 to 25 millimeters (about 0.6 to 1 inch) long. Sometimes, they have brown stripes on their belly area.
P. carolina can look very similar to another red wasp called P. rubiginosus. These two are the only red wasps in the eastern United States. You can tell them apart because P. rubiginosus usually has more black marks on its upper body (thorax). Also, the ridged part of the body near the waist (propodeum) is rougher on P. rubiginosus than on P. carolina. Female P. carolina wasps also have mostly smooth areas between their lower eyes and mouth.
How Red Paper Wasps Build Nests
Like most paper wasps, P. carolina builds its nest by chewing up plant and wood fibers. They mix these fibers with their saliva to create a material that looks like paper when it dries. Their nests are shaped like an upside-down umbrella or dome, with open, honeycomb-like cells at the bottom.
P. carolina likes to build its nests in safe, protected places. This can include natural spots like inside hollow trees or thick plants. They also often build nests on human-made structures, such as under bridges, roofs, chimneys, or inside wooden boxes.
Where Red Paper Wasps Live
P. carolina is most commonly found in the eastern United States. Their range stretches from Nebraska to Texas, and along the Atlantic coast from New York to Florida. They have also been seen in Ontario, Canada, and were brought to Bermuda.
These wasps prefer to build their nests in protected areas like hollow trees. They are often seen in woodlands. However, if they get the chance, they will also build nests close to people, such as under roofs.
The Red Paper Wasp Life Cycle
The life cycle of Polistes wasps has four main stages that often overlap: the founding stage, the worker stage, the reproductive stage, and the in-between stage.
The Founding Stage
This stage begins in the spring. Young female wasps, called foundresses, start building new nests. They might build a nest alone or with other foundresses. Studies have shown that P. carolina colonies can have one to eight foundresses. During this time, many foundresses move between nests. Some might settle at a new nest, while others might go back to their own. This helps them decide the best place to lay their eggs. Foundresses have also been seen laying eggs in other nests during these visits. Even though most nests are started by one foundress, they are usually joined by their sisters, who become helpers.
The Worker Stage
In this stage, adult worker females are born. Unlike some other Polistes species, P. carolina does not produce early males during this time. As the worker wasps emerge, they start doing jobs for the colony. These jobs include keeping the nest clean, finding food, and taking care of the young wasps (larvae).
The Reproductive Stage
This stage lasts from when the first new reproductive wasps appear until the colony starts to decline. During this time, each foundress mates with a different male and lays her eggs. The main foundress, who is the most dominant, lays most of the eggs. New reproductive wasps then leave to start their own nests.
The In-Between Stage
This is the time between when the old colony starts to decline and when new colonies are started. The original colony begins to break up as the new reproductive wasps look for places to begin their own nests. The founding queens of the old colony often disappear during this time, and more males gather in the nest.
Red Paper Wasp Behavior
Who's in Charge?
In groups of Polistes foundresses, there is a clear leader and helpers. The leader, or queen, is the one who has the most babies. Interestingly, the queen is not always the biggest female. Instead, the first foundress to arrive at a nest usually becomes the queen, and any others who join later become helpers. Even if she's not the biggest, the queen usually has the most developed ovaries, which means she can lay more eggs. This suggests that being the first to arrive might mean she is the strongest or healthiest. This system might also help prevent fights between wasps of similar strength, reducing the risk of injury.
Joining a New Nest
During the founding stage, many foundresses leave their nests and join another. Foundresses often join the nest of a full sister. Even though they don't become the main egg-layer in the new nest, they still help take care of the young. This is surprising because the babies in the new nest are not directly related to them. However, these helper foundresses are very important for the colony's survival. Colonies with helper foundresses are much more successful and produce more wasps than colonies with only one foundress.
Sharing Egg-Laying Duties
The queen wasp lays most of the eggs, but not all of them. Queens produce about 60% of all the young, and several helper wasps produce the other 40%. Only about 20% of the helper wasps in a nest don't lay any eggs at all. When resources like food or nesting spots become harder to find, the queen tends to lay an even larger share of the eggs. This is because the helper wasps have fewer options for starting their own nests. Also, P. carolina wasps do not eat each other's eggs. This supports the idea that they don't use fighting to decide who gets to lay eggs.
Mating Habits
In P. carolina, several foundresses mate, but each foundress only mates once. It's unusual for P. carolina not to have early males, unlike other Polistes species. This means that female workers in this species do not become queens that can lay fertilized eggs, which happens in some other wasp species.
Family Ties in Colonies
P. carolina, like many social insects, has a special way of determining the sex of its offspring. Males are born from eggs that are not fertilized, while females are born from fertilized eggs. This system means that daughters share one identical gene from their father and get another gene from their mother. This helps scientists figure out how closely related individuals are within a colony. Because of this system, female wasps in the same nest are usually very closely related (about 75%). However, male wasps are not related to other males, nor are they related to the females they mate with.
Recognizing Family
P. carolina wasps show helpful behavior when it comes to feeding their young. Many Polistes females prefer to feed their own babies to help them survive better. However, P. carolina does not seem to recognize or prefer to care for its own babies. This behavior might also explain why there isn't much conflict seen in this species.
What Red Paper Wasps Eat
Diet of the Wasp
P. carolina wasps mainly eat caterpillars and sweet nectar. They have also been seen hunting and eating the young (larvae) of leaf beetles and cicadas. Sometimes, they even eat sweet foods that humans have thrown away. Female wasps feed their young by putting their heads into the cells where the larvae are. They can transfer food that you can see, like pieces of caterpillar held in their jaws, or food that you can't see, like nectar fluids.
Red Paper Wasps and Humans
Since P. carolina likes to build nests in sheltered spots, they often build them close to people, such as under roofs. They can also be attracted to humans by loud noises, bright colors, and sweet smells like food or perfume.
Paper wasps are usually not very aggressive. They only attack humans or animals if they or their nests feel threatened. Only female wasps can sting. Unlike bees, wasps do not lose their stinger when they sting, so they can sting multiple times.
Wasp Stings
When a P. carolina wasp stings, its stinger does not stay in your skin. A red wasp sting is often painful and can cause swelling and itchiness in the area. Sometimes, people might get an itchy rash all over their body.
To help with swelling, you can put a cold pack or ice on the area. For itching and pain, you can use calamine lotion or a 1% hydrocortisone cream. If you don't have these creams, a paste made from baking soda and water can also help. Make sure the paste is thick enough to stay on the sting until it dries.
Some people can have a very serious allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis, to wasp stings. If someone shows severe symptoms, they should get medical help right away. In very rare cases, children might go into shock after a red wasp sting.
