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dramatic yellowjacket photos
Hello, I found your site while trying to find a definitive identification for the species of yellowjacket in these photos. Western, German, Californian or ?? Anyway, I thought you might appreciate these photos (taken in Sunnyvale, CA)
Jay

Hi Jay,
While we agree your photos are very dramatic, we do not agree that they are of Yellow Jackets. We believe these are Polistes Paper Wasps. We found a matching image on BugGuide, and it seems to look the most like the European Paper Wasp, Polistes dominulus, but would like to get Eric Eaton to confirm our identification.

Update (05/19/2006)
Hi there, I am a paper wasp researcher, currently working on introduced populations of Polistes dominulus across the US, and I found your site while doing a web search. On your site you have a couple of photos of this species — one with the title “Dramatic Polistes Paper Wasp Photos”, taken 3/23/06. I’m not sure if you’ve already sought confirmation on this, but I wanted to let you know that these are indeed Polistes dominulus females, and they appear to be doing an aggressive behavior called “grappling”, which sometimes escalates to the point where it becomes a “falling fight” as the grappling wasps fall to the ground in a writhing ball. The females do this mostly in early spring when initiating new colonies, which they can do either solitarily or in groups. A group of nesting females eventually forms a linear dominance hierarchy, and this type of aggression may help determine who gets the top spot. I hope you don’t mind my unsolicitied comments! The photos on your site are a great resource, and I thank you.
Sincerely,
Aviva Liebert

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