Yellowjacket wasps can become a nuisance as they build up in large populations and scavenge for food at picnics or other outdoor venues where food or sugary beverages are served. Over 95% of workers with yellow spots on at least one of the following: posterior half of scutum, pronotal lobes, upper mesopleuron behind scrobal furrow, lower mesopleuron. Vespula flavopilosa is a somewhat recently discovered species, but so far all known data point to the fact that the species is probably not capable of founding their own colonies. Many are attracted in large numbers to garbage cans, others fly in and out of nests built around homes, buildings and areas where people live. Black clypeal mark of queen extending to dorsal and sometimes ventral margin of clypeus; in worker clypeal mark usually more or less parallel-sided and extending to dorsal margin with isolated dot(s) near middle, sometimes the markings very reduced, with small discal spots only or disc entirely yellow and clypeal mark reduced to small basal remnant; male clypeus with yellow disc, sometimes with small black spot(s). Fertilized queens occur in protected places as hollow logs, in stumps, under bark, in leaf litter, in soil cavities and human-made structures.
Biology. This species was described less than three decades ago and had previously been confused with V. vulgaris and V. maculifrons. Vespula flavopilosa Jacobson, 1978 References [ edit ] Jacobson, R.S. Although yellowjackets are considered quite beneficial to agriculture since they feed abundantly on harmful flies and caterpillars, it is their audacity and stinging ability that causes irrational fear.
Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service.
Tergum 2 in worker rarely, in queen usually with free black discal spots; terga 3–5 in worker rarely, in queen always with free discal spots. This species was described less than three decades ago and had previously been confused with V. vulgaris and V. maculifrons. 91. Propodeum with a pair of yellow spots in worker and exceptionally in queen, absent in male. Black band between corona and ocular sinus sometimes interrupted in worker. Females prey on live arthropods and scavenge on carrion, like other species of the V. vulgaris-group.
If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office. Species recognition. After eggs hatch from the 30 to 50 brood cells, the queen feeds the young larvae for about 18 to 20 days.
Yellowjackets are social wasps living in colonies containing workers, queens and males. This very yellow (xanthic) male has proved difficuilt to ID to species; it is either a Yellow-Haired or an Eastern, Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies), (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps), Vespoidea (Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps and allies), Vespidae (Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps), Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera), Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps and allies (Vespoidea), Yellowjackets and Hornets, Paper Wasps; Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps (Vespidae), The Vespinae of North America (Vespidae, Hymenoptera), Nesting Biology of the Yellowjacket, Vespula flavopilosa (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), Identification Atlas of the Vespidae (Hymenoptera, Aculeata) of the Northeastern Nearctic Region.
Nests are subterranean. Black basomedial mark of tergum 1 usually with very broad base (in queen extending across whole width of tergum), in extremely xanthic workers width of basal attachment sometimes only slightly more than 2x mid ocellar diameter. Queens are relatively easy to distinguish from other species in the V. vulgaris-group by the apical fascia of tergum 1 not extending to the summit of the tergum (shared with V. vulgaris) in combination with a narrow black band (width at most 1.5x mid ocellar diameter) between the corona and the ocular sinus (at least 2x mid ocellar diameter in V. vulgaris). Size: 15mm Eastern U.S. west to ND, SD, IA, MO, and along Appalachians south to GA and TN (Carpenter and Kojima 1997). 1981). Yellow-haired yellowjacket; Hybrid yellowjacket.
Downy Yellowjacket – Vespula flavopilosa Bees & Wasps Index | Bees & Wasps Main | Aculeata – Bees, Ants, and Stinging Wasps Live adult wasps photographed at DuPage County, Illinois. Future collection records will undoubtedly extend this known distribution. Distribution. By mid-June, the first adult workers emerge and assume the tasks of nest expansion, foraging for food, care of the queen and larvae, and colony defense. Black subantennal mark usually with enclosed yellow spots (sometimes confluent with corona), missing in about 10% of females; subantennal mark of male very reduced, often reduced to isolated black spot at interantennal prominence. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. Upper metapleuron usually marked with yellow.
Fore wing length 8.0–11.0 mm (workers), 12.5–14.5 mm (♀♀), ca.
Figs B13.18, 19, 27, 31, 52–55, 63, 74; C91.1–14. Canada: NS, QC to MB.