Paper Wasp
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Vespidae
Subfamily: Polistinae
Tribe: Polistini
Genus: Polistes
Species: Chinensis
Scientific name: Polistes chinensis
Common name: Asian Paper wasp
The Asian paper wasp invaded New Zealand in 1979 (no one is sure how), and by 1990 was widespread throughout the upper North Island and present as far south as Nelson. As with other invaders, paper wasps can have a negative effect on our environment. They eat native invertebrates and compete with other animals, such as insect eating birds, for this prey. They also compete with animals, such as tuis and bellbirds, for nectar and honeydew. wasps are active from early spring to late summer. Each female wasp is potentially a queen. The one female wasp that becomes dominant assumes the role of queen and is cared for by the others. The other wasps also search for food and care for the wasp larvae. Paper wasp colonies are small.
Paper wasps have a simple social structure, with only females and males, all help with food gathering, nest building, and producing and rearing young. Paper wasps are longer and more slender than common and German wasps. Also, unlike common and German wasps, when paper wasps fly they do not hold their legs close to their body. A wasps flying with "long dangly legs" identifies it as a paper wasp. Paper wasps have small honeycomb nests which are made out of wood chewed and moulded by the wasps .They collect the fibre by scraping wooden structures with their mandibles (mouth parts). The wasp then chews the wood and mixes it with saliva. This makes the wood fibre extremely soft and moist. After a period of chewing, the wasp adds the paste to the nest structure and spreads it out with her mandibles and legs. After it thoroughly dries, a type of tough, durable paper is formed. The small, usually less than 20 cm in diameter cells are in a single layer with no outer covering cells where the roof is covered in a shiny secretion that acts as water-proofing. Their nests hang from small shrubs and trees, fences and walls. and often under the eaves of houses.
Photos showing body markings on wasps
The Asian Paper Wasp nest. The heads of the wasps grubs can inside each cell
The paper wasp's grub or larva 
Previous page: Native Spider Wasp
Next page: Wasp (Sirex woodwasp)