Wasp?
Location: Near Marmaris in Turkey
November 22, 2010 6:06 am
I was in Turkey and came upon this little fella. I guess at a wasp, but maybe you could clarify?
Signature: Katie
Hi Katie,
We tried unsuccessfully to identify your Paper Wasp in the genus Polistes to the species level.
Correction: November 28, 2010
Hi Daniel:
This looks like an Oriental Hornet, Vespa orientalis (Vespidae: Vespinae). The species ranges from southeast Europe and north Africa, across east and central Asia to India and Nepal. It has also been introduced accidentally to China, Mexico and possibly parts of South America. There are lots of online photos but I was drawn to a site with an interesting (and curious) accompanying article about “Thermoelectric Effect in Hornet Silk and Thermoregulation in Hornet’s Nest”. Regards. Karl
Thanks for correcting this glaringly incorrect identification Karl. We dismissed the European Hornet as a possibility and jumped straight to trying to identify Polistes species.