Polistes gallicus
| Polistes gallicus | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Vespidae |
| Subfamily: | Polistinae |
| Tribe: | Polistini |
| Genus: | Polistes |
| Species: | P. gallicus |
| Binomial name | |
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Polistes gallicus Linnaeus, 1761 |
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| Distribution of P. gallicus in yellow | |
| Synonyms | |
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Polistes gallicus (also historically referred to as Polistes foederatus) is a fairly common species of paper wasp found in various parts of Europe, excluding England, Denmark, and Scandinavia, from warmer climates to cooler regions north of the Alps. The distribution of P. gallicus also extends into northern regions of Africa, Israel, Iran, and even parts of China and Russia. Nests of these social insects are created in these various conditions. The Polistes species uses an oral secretion to construct their nests, which consist of a combination of saliva and chewed plant fibers. This structural mixture physically protects the nest from various harsh elements and from weathering over time.
P. gallicus can be spotted due to its distinct markings of bright yellow and black. It is relatively small in size compared to other native Polistes species. Curled antennae are a common characteristic in the genus for males, despite being shorter in length in comparison to wasps of other species. Their faces are also completely yellow in color. This species of wasp feeds its brood after visiting numerous flowers, collecting nectar in addition to feeding them meat. Due to its dimensions, they likely transfer pollen to the stigma, despite the fact that P. gallicus bodies are almost bald, which leads to few or no pollen grains stuck on them after foraging. This specific body type can help with identification.
P. gallicus is a member of the Vespidae family, further classified under the Polistinae (the second-largest of the subfamilies) which consists of various social wasps. Within the larger subfamily Polistnae, Polistes species are categorized by their independent founding behavior, distinguishing them from swarm-founding species.P. gallicus is almost indistinguishable from the European paper wasp, P. dominula, with which it had long been confused. Nearly every reference to P. gallicus prior to 1985 was actually referring to P. dominula; due to the great similarity between species, however, many published studies for which no vouchered reference specimens are available cannot be reliably assigned to either species. Most of the literature that pertains to actual P. gallicus uses the junior synonym, P. foederatus, a name which still occasionally appears in the literature despite the known error. It is also closely related to P. biglumis and P. hellenicus
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