What Do Paper Wasps Eat? Do They Eat Wood?

Did you find a paper wasp near your house and are wondering what they eat? Don’t worry; these aren’t the bugs that will attack your picnic baskets and jams and fruits. Below, we will share with you what they actually like to eat.

One of the most distinctive wasp nests you can spot is that of the paper wasps.

Whenever you see black and yellow wasps flying toward you, the best idea is to bolt in the opposite direction.

But what should you do if you find their nest in or around your house? Let us tell you a little about this species of wasp and what makes them so special.

What Are Paper Wasps?

Paper wasps are one of the most common wasp species in the world. The common paper wasps are black insects with yellow markings.

Some of its European varieties also have bright reddish-orange antennae.

These wasps are social insects that build colonies in their nests, similar to bees. Most of them are found in a temperate climate, which could be forests or grasslands.

Female wasps grow larger than males and have additional spots to distinguish their gender.

At one time, they were only known as European wasps because of their abundance in the agricultural areas of the continent.

At present, the wasps are found in scattered parts of North America, Canada, and parts of South America, like Chile and Argentina.

In the United States, they are mostly found on the East Coast.

Why Are They Called Paper Wasps?

Paper wasps are known mainly for their unique nests that look like they are made from paper.

These insects use fiber from wood and plant stems, mixing it with their saliva to create a brown material, which is essentially the same thing as modern-day paper.

This mixture helps them create large nests in the form of colonies where they live and lay eggs.

Paper wasp nests have open combs with cells. It looks somewhat like an umbrella, which is why these wasps are also called umbrella wasps.

It is hung from a petiole that works as a bridge between the nest with the surface structure, holding it in place.

Building the nests is an elaborate process for these social wasps. The queen bee starts the process in the spring after overwintering.

In most cases, she looks for a spot near human settlements or as parts of a tree.

She lays her first batch of eggs, which grow into larvae and then join her in the nest-making process. Soon, more and more eggs hatch and join the effort.

At its peak, a paper wasp colony can reach up to 200 wasps, some of whom are workers and drones, while a few select females are being reared for the next generation of queens.

At the onset of winter, the queen and some of these chosen females find spots to hide for the winter and become inactive.

The rest of the nest and its inhabitants slowly die due to the harsh cold weather and lack of food.

What Do They Eat?

Adult paper wasps are omnivores that feed on both animal and plant matter. The diet of these wasps includes insect larvae, flies, aphids, and caterpillars.

They also eat honeydew and nectar from plants.

However, the paper wasps found in America feed mainly on caterpillars and flower nectar.

These insects are considered to be beneficial insects as they feed on pests, thus protecting your plants.

What Do Their Larvae Eat?

Paper wasp larva feed on animal remains that the adult paper wasps bring them. These wasps bring chewed-up caterpillars to feed their young ones.

Once the larva grows into an adult wasp, they take over the nest-building process and are responsible for feeding the next generation.

Are They Beneficial?

Paper wasps are considered to be beneficial insects for your garden. They feed on a number of pests, like caterpillars, types of flies, and beetle larvae.

Another reason these wasps are beneficial is their role in pollination. These wasps feed on the nectar of different flowers, transferring the pollen from one plant to another in the process.

What Eats Paper Wasps?

Even though paper wasps are infamous as stingers, they have a number of predators in the wild.

Birds, dragonflies, beetles, spiders, moths, and praying mantes are some of the most common creatures that feed on paper wasps.

Birds are one of the most common predators of wasps. They usually go for solitary wasps, which are not aggressive and easier to hunt.

But birds are usually not selective about their prey and will catch any wasp they can find, often swooping them mid-air.

Insects like praying mantes, beetles, and dragonflies hunt wasps using different techniques. In most cases, they quietly monitor the prey, waiting for an opportunity.

When they find their chance, they attack the wasps with their jaws, avoiding the sting as best as possible.

Are Paper Wasps Dangerous?

Paper wasps can be considered dangerous since they are aggressive in nature. These social wasps are always on alert to defend their nests against any kind of threat.

The wasps also build their nests around human settlements, which can make them a threat to humans.

In most cases, the wasps will keep to themselves and hover around their nests. If you encounter one far away from its nest, they are not likely to attack if you don’t accidentally make contact with them.

Paper wasps can also become a domestic nuisance since they scrape wood from random areas and feed on the flowers and fruits of the garden.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wrap Up

It is true that paper wasps live around humans, and they can become a real disturbance. However, they are not like yellow jackets, which would go after your sugary food and soda cans.

The best idea to save yourself from their nuisance is to remove their nests at the first sign. It will be easier to get rid of the wasps early on, and you will save yourself a lot of pain from their stings.

Thank you for reading! 

Reader Emails

Here are a few emails from our readers showing how paper wasps hunt and eat various insects, large and small, such as mantis, caterpillar and so on.

Do go through the description of the hunt!

Letter 1 – European Hornet eats Mantis

 

Predator and prey
Location:  Silver Spring, Maryland
October 2, 2010 12:34 pm
Is the predator a bee or a wasp? It the prey a katydid? Found the interactionhappening on our front sidewalk early one evening in September 2010.
Signature:  Steve

Hi Steve,
Your wasp is a Paper Wasp in the genus Polistes, and we believe it may be Polistes metricus based on photos posted to BugGuide, and the range of the species according to BugGuide.  According to the genus information page on bugguide, Paper Wasps  “Take nectar and juice from ripe fruit. Predatory on other insects (predominantly caterpillars) to feed larvae.“ The prey is a bit more of a challenge.  We actually believe it to be a small Preying Mantis, possibly the Carolina Mantis, Stagmomantis carolina, which is just over two inches long according to BugGuide. The big question in our mind is whether or not the Paper Wasp killed the Mantis.  We find that hard to believe.  We believe the Mantis may have been attacked by a bird or other predator and had been partially eaten, and the opportunistic Paper Wasp stumbled upon an easy meal for the larvae in the nest.  The foraging Paper Wasps will chew and eat the insect prey and then regurgitate the partially digested meat for the larvae.

Correction
November 13, 2011
Mistaken ID
November 13, 2011 9:23 pm
The ‘paper wasp’ eating the mantis is probably actually a European hornet, Vespa crabro.  Paper wasps are less robust and colored differently, and prefer to go after more helpless insects than mantids.  On Youtube there are at least a few videos of hornets of related species attacking healthy mantids successfully.
P.S. I love your website!  Awesome job, and keep it up…don’t listen to the trolls who can’t stand being reminded that drowning things in Raid is a cruel death.
Signature: JC

Dear JC,
Thanks so much for your correction.  We make numerous mistakes, especially in our attempts to post as many submissions as possible, and we really rely upon our readership to write back and correct our errors.

Letter 2 – Paper Wasp preys upon Caterpillar

 

Subject: Paper Wasp with Caterpillar
Location: Northeast Florida
June 29, 2012 8:40 pm
I was outside by my tomato plants when I noticed a Paper Wasp flying around one of the plants, landing for a minute or two and then flying around again. It was carrying a very small green caterpillar that looked like a young Hornworm. The wasp would bite and chew on the caterpillar, then fly around with it again. I looked up Paper Wasps and read that they kill caterpillars and take the remains back to their nests. I’m sending a few pictures I took.
Signature: Karen in FL

Hi Karen,
We apologize for the delay in getting back to you.  We planned to post your photo days ago but it got lost in the shuffle.  We believe your Paper Wasp might be Polistes exclamans which is described on BugGuide as having:  “Dark antennae with orange tips” and it is also referred to as the Common Paper Wasp or Guinea Wasp.  We would not discount that it might be another species as Paper Wasps are sometimes difficult to identify to the species level.  It is important to note that Paper Wasps generally bring prey like Caterpillars back to the nest to feed larvae.

That’s okay about the delay, I understand how busy you are. I looked at Polistes exclamans on BugGuide and it definitely looks like my wasp. I was fascinated to see it carrying the little caterpillar around, and I wondered how I could have missed seeing these wasps carrying off caterpillars before!
Karen

Letter 3 – Paper Wasp with Prey

 

Subject: Wasp
Location: Cherry Hill NJ
July 24, 2017 3:39 pm
I believe this is a paper wasp, but I could also be wrong. I do not know what is in her mouth though. So my question is, what is that? It’s cool regardless, but is it food, or larva maybe?
Signature: Jamie

Dear Jamie,
This is indeed a Paper Wasp in the genus Polistes.  Paper Wasps are solitary wasps and workers set out from the nest to forage for food for the larvae.  Paper Wasps frequently prey upon Caterpillars that they skin in the field, then roll the meat into a ball to more easily transport the food back to the nest.

Letter 4 – Paper Wasp with Caterpillar Prey encounters Human

 

Subject:  Wasp lands on me WITH caterpillar meal
Geographic location of the bug:  Missouri, United States
Date: 06/29/2019
Time: 12:25 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  so today one of the most cool, weird, and gross things happened to me. I was sitting outside with my bearded dragon and we were under a nice tree. I feel a plop on my arm and I look down to see what it is and my hand is already poised to gently brush off whatever bug has wandered onto me, but I see the black and yellow and my brain registers: THAT is a wasp.
I pulled out my camera as fast as I could because… this is absolutely wild, I’ve never had this happen. and I sit there as I watch this wasp crunch her caterpillar prey WHILE SITTING ON MY ARM… when I moved my arm she got spooked and flew away, leaving her dead caterpillar laying on me… which I brushed off onto the sidewalk.
I have included the caterpillar itself as well, which I’m curious to know the name of, if possible.
How you want your letter signed:  Michael

Dear Michael,
We applaud your quick reflex “inaction” to the aposomatic or warning coloration on this European Paper Wasp, Polistes dominula, which we identified thanks to this BugGuide image.  According to the Penn State Department of Entomology: “Before 1981, the European paper wasp was not recorded in North America. In its native region, P. dominulais the most abundant paper wasp in those countries around the Mediterranean. It is also found in southern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, and eastward into China.  A highly successful colonizer, this wasp has rapidly increased its distribution in the United States during the past 20 years. Before the introduction of this new species, the northern paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus, was the most frequently encountered species in and around structures in Pennsylvania.”  That site also observes:  “Whenever new species are introduced into an environment (either intentionally or accidentally), there are unpredictable consequences. The increased risk for stings is an obvious concern. Even more troubling, it appears that this new introduction has had an adverse impact on the native species of Polistes. The apparent reduction of indigenous Polistes will undoubtedly result in a change in the faunal balance. It is unclear what the consequences will be. Some entomologists worry that the large numbers of P. dominula will adversely affect the species of desirable insects (i.e., butterflies).”  For that reason, we are tagging your submission as Invasive Exotics as well as Food Chain.  This is also the most frequently encountered Paper Wasp in our our Mount Washington, Los Angeles garden.  We believe this caterpillar is a member of the Owlet Moth family Noctuidae, which includes Cutworms.