Bug FAQCalifornia Yellowjacket
Vespula sulphurea · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Vespidae
The California yellowjacket is a wasp that belongs to the Vespidae family. Its nests are built underground.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The California yellowjacket is a Vespidae wasp species.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It nests underground.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It feeds on fennel, California figwort, and chaparral broom.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 4 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, Oregon, Florida, Arizona.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where does the California yellowjacket build its nest?
Its nests are located underground.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Vespidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_sulphurea
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.