Vespula vulgaris, known as the common wasp, is a species found in regions that include the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, India, China, New Zealand[1] and Australia.

[2] Vespula vulgaris is a eusocial vespid that builds its tan paper nest in or on a structure capable of supporting it.

A founding queen searches for a hollow tree, wall cavity, rock crevice, or even a hole made by other animals to build a nest.

The extraordinary adaptation skills of V. vulgaris enable it to live in a wide range of habitats, from very humid areas to artificial environments such as gardens and human structures.

[2] It is closely related to another wasp species, Vespula austriaca, and is considered a sister taxon.

In addition, identification of this species may be difficult because the black mark on its clypeus can sometimes appear broken, making it again look similar to V.

Almost undetectable with the naked eye, the only confident identification of V. vulgaris males is to seek the distinct aedeagus tip shapes and lateral processes of their genitalia.

[2] It has been discovered in a wide range of countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, India, and China.

It flourishes in most types of habitats, including prairie, grassland, natural and planted forests, shrub lands, and even in urban zones such as gardens, orchards, and buildings.

[4] Five distinguishable stages occur in V. vulgaris colony cycle in the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

[10] The first brood of workers are all of normal size, but the next generation of them is generally smaller, due to a decrease in the queen's foraging activity after producing the first batch of larvae.

As the queen's foraging decreases, the second group of workers does not get so much food, often starves, and so spends more time in the larval stage.

[10] After coming out of hibernation in the spring, the queen forages for flowers or shrubs and begins looking for nesting sites.

[8] When the nest is completed, the queen is replaced by the workers as the foraging force and instead is now concerned only with nursing and egg producing.

[10] After the founding phase has been completed, the colony encounters a change where the workers begin to build queen cells.

The rate and amount of foraging decrease drastically after the queen's death, so it is unable to support all the workers and their brood.

[19] When the queen has found the appropriate nesting site, she orients in a similar way as the workers and flies back out of the hole.

She flies frontwards and backwards in front of the nest with a slow, hovering flight and repeats this movement until its distance is further away from the hole.

The workers that detect danger show a certain gesture – they rise onto the tips of their tarsi, put forward their heads, turn down their abdomens and constantly vibrate their wings in high frequencies and short beats.

[10] However, when they detect life-threatening level of danger, the Vespula vulgaris workers will vigorously defend their nest.

[15] Vespula vulgaris wasps have been observed aggressively competing with honey bees for the honeydew secreted by the scale insect Ultracoelostoma brittini in New Zealand's South Island black beech forests.

In the mild climate of New Zealand and Australia, a few of the colonies may survive the winter, although this is much more common with the German wasp.

[14][20] The painful, though rarely life-threatening sting involves the injection of a complex venom containing amines (histamine, tyramine, serotonin, catecholamines), peptides, and proteins, including many hydrolases.

[citation needed] The average life span of an adult Vespula vulgaris is known to be around two weeks (14 days).

Wasps that are over 30 days, in fact, generally cease from foraging trips and spend all of their time guarding the entrance of the nest.

[23] Their usual food sources are freshly killed insects such as Hymenoptera, lepidopteran larvae and Diptera and spiders.

[23] In the early stage of the colony founding, the queen Vespula vulgaris does most of the work, both building and foraging.

[10] As mentioned above, the cell location can alter the size of the larva and eventually determine which female Vespula vulgaris is going to be queen.

[8][1] Vespula vulgaris is subject to predation by the honey buzzard, which excavates the nests to obtain the larvae.

[8] In New Zealand a 2010 study found that an as yet unidentified predator/s is responsible for local extinction of Vespula (both vulgaris and germanica) on many offshore islands 5–7 years following eradication of introduced rodents.