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Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) (Image 1)
Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) (Image 1)
An adult paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus) photographed in the wild in Winfield, Ill.
Wasps that construct nests made of a papery material are commonly called paper wasps. The nests consist of a single upside-down layer of brood cells. There are 22 species of paper wasps in North America and about 700 species world-wide. Most are resident in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. The two most common paper wasps in the American Midwest are Polistes dominulus, an introduced species, and Poliste fuscatus, the native "golden paper wasp." (Date of Image: April 2005) [One of three related images. See Next Image.]
Credit: ©Bruce J. Marlin/www.cirrusimage.com
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