Bug FAQCentral American Paper Wasp
Apoica pallens · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Vespidae
Also called: Central American Moon Wasp, Night Wasp
Queens and workers are similar in overall size, but queens are smaller at the front and larger at the rear, reflecting ovary development differences. Their diet includes flies, caterpillars, beetles, and banana blossom pollen and nectar, and they may eat some of their own brood when hungry.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
They are pale yellow in color.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Queens and workers are about the same total size, but queens are smaller at the front and larger at the back. These size differences are linked to how their ovaries develop.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are found in tropical savanna, semi-deciduous dry forest, gallery forest and marshland. The genus Apoica is common throughout the New World tropics.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
They collect arthropods such as flies, caterpillars and beetles, and also feed on banana blossom pollen and nectar. Adults may practice brood cannibalism when their own nutritional needs are not met.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Colonies abandon their old nest and move to a new site in a swarm-founding behavior. The species can be permanently or primarily polygynous, with queen numbers sometimes dropping to a single queen later in the cycle.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Nest abandonment happens more often during the dry season. They forage almost exclusively at night.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
They are native to the lowland regions of Central America and northern South America.
Source: Wikipedia
Status: native in North America. Source: iNaturalist
Questions people ask
What do Central American paper wasps eat?
They collect flies, caterpillars, beetles, and also gather pollen and nectar from banana blossoms; adults may eat some of their own brood if needed.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Vespidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoica_pallens
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.