Bug FAQSouthern Paper Wasp
Polistes bellicosus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Eumenidae
Also called: Belligerent Paper Wasp
Southern Paper Wasp adults have lemon-yellow segments on the abdomen and yellow mandibles; females show a fine black line on the middle of the thorax while males have two side lines. They build colonies on plants such as Baccharis, Ilex vomitoria, and Rubus in Texas prairie habitats, especially at Brazos Bend State Park. Their range is mainly Texas but also includes reports from North Carolina and Florida, and colonies start in March and last about eight months.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Females have a fine, central black line on the mesothorax that is wrinkled across, while males have two longitudinal side lines; both sexes have yellow mandibles and narrow eye openings that widen toward the bottom.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Both male and female wasps display lemon-yellow abdominal segments.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Colonies are naturally found on Baccharis species, Ilex vomitoria, and Rubus species in native prairie areas of Brazos Bend State Park near Houston, Texas.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Colonies are started in March and the cycle continues for about eight months. Female wasps look alike but fall into four roles: foundresses, workers, queens, and gynes.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species mainly establishes colonies within Texas, with observed occurrences also in North Carolina and Florida.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 20 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Maryland, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Eumenidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polistes_bellicosus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.