Polistes versicolor, also known as the variegated paper wasp or yellow paper wasp, is a subtropical social wasp within Polistes, the most common genus of paper wasp. It is the most widely distributed of South American wasp species and is particularly common in the Southeastern Brazilian states.Zara, Fernando, and Jose Balestieri. "Behavioural Catalogue of Polistes versicolor Olivier (Vespidae: Polistinae) Post-emergent Colonies." Naturalia 25 (2000): 301-19. Print. The P. versicolor nest, made of chewed vegetable fiber, is typically a single, uncovered comb attached to the substrate by a single petiole.Torres, RF, VO Torres, YR Suarez, and WF Antonialli-Junior. "Effect of the Habitat Alteration by Human Activity on Colony Productivity of the Social Wasp Polistes versicolor (Olivier) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)." Sociobiology 61.1 (2014): 100-06. The yellow wasp is frequently found in urban areas. New nests and colonies are usually founded by an association of females, sometimes in human buildings.De Oliveira, Simone, Mariana De Castro, and Fabio Prezoto. "Foundation Pattern, Productivity and Colony Success of the Paper Wasp, Polistes versicolor." The Journal of Insect Science 10 (2010): n. pag.
The P. versicolor colony cycle broadly ranges from 3 to 10 months, although there appears to be no relationship between the colony's development and the season of the year. While P. versicolor do have clear annual colony cycles, many young queens have the opportunity to hibernate during the winter, forming optional winter aggregations.Gobbi, Nivar, Fernando B. Noll, and Marcelo A. H. Penna. "‘Winter’ Aggregations, Colony Cycle, and Seasonal Phenotypic Change in the Paper Wasp Polistes versicolor in Subtropical Brazil." Naturwissenschaften 93.10 (2006): 487-94. Dominance hierarchies within these aggregations are characterized by physical aggression of the dominant female(s) towards the associated females, who tend to be sisters.González, J. A., F. S. Nascimento, and S. F. Gayubo. "Observations on the Winter Aggregates of Two Polistine Paper Wasps (Hymenoptera Vespidae Polistinae)." Tropical Zoology 15.1 (2002): 1-4. Wagging movements are also often used as a form of communication within the colony.Esch, Harald. "Wagging Movements in the Wasp Polistes versicolor Vulgaris Bequaert." Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie 72.3 (1971): 221-25. P. versicolor is generally predatory, capturing a wide range of insects, although it often feeds on pollen and nectar as well.Kohler, Andreas. "Floral Preferences of the Polistine Wasp Polistes versicolor versicolor Olivier, 1792 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Plostinae, Polistini) in Santa Cruz Do Sul, Southern Brazil." Biociencias 16.2 (2008): n. pag. Therefore, P. versicolor can be useful as a pollinator or as effective pest control.Prezoto, Fábio, Helba H. Santos-Prezoto, Vera L.l. Machado, and José C. Zanuncio. "Prey Captured and Used in Polistes versicolor (Olivier) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Nourishment." Neotropical Entomology 35.5 (2006): 707-09.
Taxonomy and phylogeny The French entomologist Guillaume-Antoine Olivier described P. versicolor in 1791. Its species name, versicolor, is a Latin term that means a variety of colors, perhaps referring to the bright coloration of its abdomen and thorax. Within the subfamily Polistinae of the family Vespidae, the genus Polistes (paper wasps) has about 200 species distributed throughout the world mostly in the tropical region. A widely studied genus, Polistes is now considered a model organism useful in understanding the evolution of social behavior. P. versicolor is a member of the New World Polistes, which are found in the subgenus Aphanilopterus.Araujo, Vinicius, Jane Moreira, and Jose Lino-Neto. "Morphology of the Male Reproductive System of the Social Wasp, Polistes versicolor versicolor, with Phylogenetic Implications." The Journal of Insect Science 10 (2010): n. pag. As morphological variation among the Aphanilopterus is small, P. versicolor shares many similarities with its Aphanilopterus relatives, especially P. instabilis. Both species may form winter aggregations when living at high altitudes. Ecologically, P. versicolor lives in conditions similar to those of other temperate zone species, such as P. fuscatus (in the subgenus Fuscopolistes) and P. canadensis (also in the subgenus Aphanilopterus). While the seasonal conditions are not drastic in terms of temperature, these species both live in places with a pronounced dry season.
Description and identification Both male and female P. versicolor have yellow transparent wings and a black body featuring the characteristic yellow bands on the thorax and abdomen. The differences between females are exclusively size-related. Within an aggregation of P. versicolor, the queens are the indisputably largest females and newly emerged females are the smallest. Aggregated females are larger than all other females. The female body sizes within a colony often depend on the environmental conditions: an increase in body size is often seen with the approach of an unfavorable season.
Nest construction New colonies and nests are usually founded by an association of females. Before beginning the construction, the foundress first makes recognition flights, inspecting the structure to be used for the nest by flying close to the selected area and touching the substrate with its antennae. The papery nests are often a grayish coloration and frequently built on gypsum plaster. Foundations of nests on gypsum plaster have been found to be significantly larger than those on other types of substrate, a testament to the synanthropy of P. versicolor. On average, the P. versicolor nest consists of 244.2 cells and 171.67 adult wasps. Colony size can vary from seven females (foundress associations) to nearly 100 females (mature colonies). Once the location for the new colony foundation is established, the construction begins with the peduncle: vegetable material is chewed with saliva and then attached to the substrate in thread form. The first cell is then constructed with a circular format, during which the female constantly touches the cell sides with its antennae. Afterwards, hexagonal outlines are formed as peripheral cells are built around the initial circular cell and attached to neighboring cells. As larvae develop in the cells, chewed vegetable fiber is added to the extremities of the cells to elevate their wall height. Throughout the colony cycle, as the colonies grow and the cell numbers increase, the peduncle is further reinforced with additional plant fiber to ensure adequate support for the nest as it enlarges.
Distribution and habitat Widely distributed throughout South America, P. versicolor ranges from Costa Rica to Argentina. High densities of P. versicolor have been observed on the high mountains of the Turimiquire massif in Anzoategui State, Venezuela, most likely caused by migration due to the seasonal periodicity associated with the dry season.Manzanilla, J., L. De Sousa, and D. Sanchez. "High Densities of Polistes versicolor versicolor (Oliver 1791) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) at Cerro La Laguna, Turimiquire Massif, Anzoátegui State, Venezuela." Boletín De Entomología Venezolana 15.2 (2000): 245-48.
P. versicolor nests can frequently be found in natural environments with substrata consisting of leaves, branches, roots, stones, and even the abandoned nests of other social wasp species. In some cases, the wasp actually takes over empty Mischocyttarus drewseni nests to lay their eggs instead of creating their own nests.De Souza, Andre, Silva, Newton and Prezoto, Fabio, "A rare but successful reproductive tactic in a social wasp (Hymenoptera:Vespidae): Use of heterospecific nests", "Revista Chilena de Historia Natural", 2012. Often, however, its nests are found in human constructions; P. versicolor is facultatively synanthropic. P. versicolor even appear to nest preferably in human constructions in areas with little human activity; nests in natural vegetation are increasingly rare. This has been linked to the fact that the fragility of plants often does not offer appropriate support for the nest and exposes the nest to the stress of weather. In contrast, nests on manmade gypsum plaster are typically found in high places in buildings, where these nests are highly protected from not only human interference, but also weather and direct solar irradiation.
Colony cycle While P. versicolor seems to rely on strictly annual colony cycles at high latitudes and altitudes, the colony cycle length can vary; short-cycle colonies can have life expectancies ranging from three to six months while long-cycle colonies can range from six to ten months. In colonies studied in southwest Brazil (where P. versicolor is particularly common), the colony cycle broadly ranges from 3 to 10 months. Although the climatic conditions may directly or indirectly affect colony productivity, P. versicolor is an asynchronous species, as there appears to be no relationship between the colony's development and the season of the year. An aggregation may start in the broad interval of March to August and founders do not leave the aggregation at the same time. Therefore, new foundations can occur in different periods. In southeastern Brazil, aggregations of P. versicolor start in early March, before winter, and last until mid-August. The egg stage can vary from 5 to 16 days long, the larval stage can vary from 12 to 46 days long, and the pupal stage can vary from 16 to 26 days long. The average lifetime of a subordinate worker ranges from 10 to 17 days. Males can stay in the colony for a few days before being forced by leave by the females. While only new queens traditionally initiate new colonies as they leave their previous nests, aggregation within P. versicolor represents an alternative path for females, offering them the choice between starting a new nest and waiting to be a foundress. Newly emerged females can thus choose to be workers, waiting a year to be a foundress until more favorable conditions arise. Females with long colony cycles could also replace a reproductive as an egg layer on the former nest as well.
Winter aggregations P. versicolor have clear annual colony cycles, but the young queens of the colonies also have the opportunity to hibernate during the winter. Given the absence of a harsh climate, the occurrence of winter aggregations in the tropical P. versicolor is optional; there are some colonies that do not form these aggregations in their annual cycle. Winter aggregation is thus different from the diapause observed in species living in temperate climates subjected to adverse climatic conditions. Rather, winter aggregation in this tropical species reflects the behavioral adaptability of P. versicolor, allowing females to wait for better environmental conditions to start a new nest, rather than being forced to start a new nest as soon as they emerge. Winter aggregations (composed of hibernating queens) often produce larger females, who then are more likely to successfully become new queens. Within aggregations, most individuals possess developing ovaries. Young can develop their ovaries before the aggregation, but many females develop their ovaries during the time spent in aggregation while waiting for a better season to found a nest.
Effects of human activity With increasing numbers of P. versicolor nests built in urban areas in human constructions, P. versicolor have discovered many advantages, such as a reduction in interspecific competition, protection against a variety of climatic factors and protection from predation, especially by vertebrates.
On colony strategies