Polistes carolina
| Polistes carolina | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Vespidae |
| Subfamily: | Polistinae |
| Tribe: | Polistini |
| Genus: | Polistes |
| Species: | P. carolina |
| Binomial name | |
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Polistes carolina (Linnaeus, 1767) |
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| Synonyms | |
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One of two types of red paper wasps, Polistes carolina is a species of social wasp (subfamily Polistinae) in the family Vespidae. They are most commonly found in the eastern US from Texas through Nebraska. The wasp's common name is due to the reddish-brown color of its head and body. Red paper wasps are known to construct some of the largest nests of any wasp species and prefer to build their nests in protected spaces.
The first description of Polistes carolina appears in the first volume of Carl Linnaeus' 12th edition of Systema Naturae published in 1767. In this volume, he referred to the species as Vespa carolina.Ferdinand de Saussure later moved it to the genus Polistes in 1855 after Pierre Andre Latreille coined the new genus in 1802.P. carolina is within the family Vespidae, which includes nearly all of the eusocial wasps and many of the solitary wasps. It is further placed within the subfamily Polistnae (paper wasps), which is the second-largest of the subfamilies within the Vespidae. The Polistinae contain two main behavioral groups: swarm founding, involving a large numbers of workers and several queens, and independent founding, which involve a few workers and foundresses. (P. carolina uses the latter.)
P. carolina has been found to be most closely related to P. metricus. Recent phylogenetic analysis has shown that both P. carolina and P. metricus share a common ancestor with P. aurifer and P. fuscatus.
Typical red paper wasps (of both sexes) are about 25–32 mm (0.98–1.26 in) long with black wings of lengths ranging from 15–25 mm (0.59–0.98 in). Brown stripes are occasionally present on the abdomen.P. carolina is often confused with P. perplexus due to its strikingly similar reddish-brown coloring. These two species are the only ones of red wasps in the eastern United States. One distinguishing feature between these two is the greater presence of black markings on the thorax of P. perplexus. Both sexes of the two species can also be differentiated by the coarser transverse ridging of the propodeum of P. perplexus when compared with P. carolina. Additionally, female P. carolina specimens have mostly bare malar spaces (the distance between the lower eye orbit and the mouth).
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