Paper Wasp captures Spider

bugman

September 27th, 2006 at 12:00 am

Tags

food chain

hey, found an interesting looking wasp
i’m a high schooler with a biology project to photograph and identify 50 life forms total, and as i was going to get my lunch one day, i saw this clump moving along a pole, looking closer, i realized it was a wasp carrying away its trophy, a spider from a web about 6 feet further up. I pulled out my camera, amazed by the site, and took a couple photos, looking back at the photos, i realized i didn’t remember ever seeing a wasp like this one. I live in south louisiana, it was a hot and humid day about 2 or 3 weeks ago. i look forward to knowing what species this is.

We are not sure of the species, but this is a Paper Wasp in the genus Polistes. There is a degree of variability that makes exact identification difficult from a photo. Paper Wasps are nectar feeders, but they capture insects and spiders to feed to the young.

Paper Wasp (July 17, 2006)
Dramatic Polistes Paper Wasp Photos (March 23, 2006)
Polistes Paper Wasp (March 18, 2006)
Polistes Paper Wasp (December 5, 2006)
Paper Wasp captures Caterpillar in Australia (April 17, 2009)