// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy was Polistes badius happy? It was a hive of activity.
| Polistes badius | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Vespidae |
| Genus: | Polistes |
| Species: | P. badius |
| Binomial name | |
| Polistes badius Gerst., 1873 | |
Polistes badius is a species of social paper wasp from the subgenus Polistes found in Africa and Yemen.[1]
Description
[edit]The species was originally described by Carl Eduard Adolph Gerstaecker in 1873 as Polistes badia.[2]
Morphology
[edit]Polistes badius has a red-brown body with pale yellow bands on the thorax and abdomen and two thicker golden yellow bands on the abdomen. The body is covered in fine yellow hairs. The type specimen measured 13 millimetres (0.51 in).[2]
Distribution
[edit]Polistes badius specimens have been collected from Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, south Africa, and Yemen.[1]
Ecology
[edit]Like other Polistes wasps, P. badius feeds primarily on caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects.[3]
Polistes wasps construct nests composed of chewed plant pulp and salivary secretions. The nests of P. badius are horizontal with downward-facing cells.[3]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Dvořák, Libor (2008). "The first record of the paper wasp Polistes smithii neavei von Schulthess, 1921, from the Middle East (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), with notes on the social wasp fauna of Yemen". Zoology in the Middle East. 44 (1): 119. doi:10.1080/09397140.2008.10638298. ISSN 0939-7140.
- 1 2 Gerstaecker, A.; Cooks, C.; Kersten, Otto; Decken, Karl Klaus von der, eds. (1873). "I. Insecta". Die Gliedertheir-fauna des Sansibar-gebietes : nach dem von dr. O. Kersten während der v. d. Decken'schen Ost-Afrikanischen expedition im Jahre 1862 gesammelten material (in German). Leipzig: C. F. Winter. p. 325. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.10149. OCLC 14014094.
- 1 2 van Noort, Simon (2026). "Polistes badius". WaspWeb. Iziko Museums of South Africa. Retrieved 2026-07-05.
Media related to Polistes badius at Wikimedia Commons
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