Africa Wild

Paper Wasp Belonogaster juncea colonialis
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae

© BluTuna

© BluTuna

Description
Ferruginous legs and gaster, tergites 2+ darkened. Gastral petiole relative short and stout, somewhat widened at apex, gaster posteriorly with close pale tomentum. Wings not black with purple reflections, ruling out race B. j. juncea. Clypeus acute below, not rounded as in male. Mesoscutum, mesopleuron and humeri finely granulate dull with close silvery tomentum.
Face of males: Gena narrow. Yellow dorsal streak on mandibles, sides of clypeus and inner orbits. Yellow spot between antennal sockets. Male antennal segments 9-11 have bumps on inner surface, segment 12 uniformly curved and not dilated at tip. Yellow anterior streak on scape however not visible, and yellow spots on gaster limited to northern populations.

Distribution
Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe.

Biology
Social, constructing communal paper nests. Larvae are fed on chewed-up, soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars.

Links: WaspWeb - Belonogaster juncea

Paper Wasp Belonogaster sp. Possibly Belonogaster juncea colonialis
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae

© BluTuna

© BluTuna
Hartebeespoort Dam area, North West Province

Belonogaster is a large genus of mainly Afrotropical quasisocial wasps.

Links: Photo: Belonogaster juncea colonialis

Paper Wasp Belonogaster sp.
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae

© nan
Around Berg-en-Dal, Kruger National Park

Belonogaster, comprising 79 species, is widely distributed in Africa south of the Sahara.
Social, constructing communal paper nests. Larvae are fed on chewed-up, soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars.

Links: WaspWeb

Paper Wasp Polistes marginalis
Family Vespidae. Subfamily Polistinae

© Dewi
Kosi Forest Lodge, KwZulu-Natal

Diagnosis
Tarsal claws on mid and hind legs symmetrical in size (asymmetrical in P. fastidiosus). Colour variable, usually with black areas on reddish-orange ground colour. Pale yellow terminal bands on first two or three metasomal (abdominal) segments. Specimens smaller (8-12 mm in length), than in P. fastidious (13-17 mm in length).

Distribution
Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Lesotho, Niger, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania including Zanzibar, Yémen.

Biology
Social, constructing communal paper nests comprising a single comb with downward pointing cells. Larvae are fed on chewed-up, soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars. See Polistinae Paper wasp home page for more details.



Links:
http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/98524
WaspWeb

Paper Wasp Polistes sp.
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae

© BluTuna

© BluTuna
Hartebeespoort Dam area, North West Province

Wasps of the cosmopolitan genus Polistes (the only genus in the tribe Polistini) are the most familiar of the polistine wasps, and are the most common type of paper wasp. It is also the single largest genus within the family Vespidae, with over 300 recognized species and subspecies.


© BluTuna

© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg

Links: WaspWeb

Paper Wasp Polistes sp.
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae

© BluTuna
Kruger National Park

Links: WaspWeb

Paper Wasp Polistes sp.
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae

© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg

Links: WaspWeb

Paper Wasp Ropalidia cincta
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae. Tribe: Ropalidiini

© BluTuna
Hartebeespoort Dam area, North West Province

The genus Ropalidia is distributed both in Africa and in the South Asian and Australian tropics. A very large genus with probably more than one hundred species.

Distribution
Ropalidia cincta is widespread and locally common in the savanna regions of Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Kenya, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania).

Links: Iconographie des Vespidae du Monde - Ropalidia cincta; WaspWeb - Ropalidia; WaspWeb - Polistinae Biology

Paper Wasp Ropalidia sp.
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae. Tribe: Ropalidiini

© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg

© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg

© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg

© BluTuna

© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg

Ropalidia Paper Wasps are very small; they occur in Southeast Asia, India, Australia, Africa and Madagascar.
These wasps are narrow waisted brown wasps with black, yellow, grey or white markings on the body.
All species build communal papery multi-celled nests of wood pulp and saliva, attached by stalk to plants, rocks or buildings. Very social and defend their nests aggresively. Larvae are fed on chewed-up, soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars. Nests are abanoned at the end of the season.

Links: Iconographie des Vespidae du Monde - Genus Ropalidia; WaspWeb - Ropalidia; WaspWeb - Polistinae Biology

Paper Wasp Ropalidia sp.
Family: Vespidae. Subfamily: Polistinae. Tribe: Ropalidiini

© BluTuna
Garden in Johannesburg