A largely predatory species, it hunts for caterpillar meat to supply its colony, often supplementing its developing larvae with nectar.
[2] The most widely distributed American species of the genus Polistes, it colonizes multiple combs, which it rears year-round.
[3] Emerging from hibernation in the spring, the females found nests built from plant material such as dry grass and dead wood.
These nests are not covered with an envelope and feature hexagonal cells in which eggs are laid and larvae develop.
On average, a single female queen with 9.1 foundresses usually initiates the construction of new combs and cells to form nests.
[8] Both male and female Polistes canadensis have a uniformly light to dark mahogany-brown body, sometimes with the head and thorax of a lighter shade.
These nests are not covered with an outer envelope and feature hexagonal cells in which eggs are laid and larvae develop.
Some locations include, but are not limited to, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, British Guiana, Trinidad, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay.
[3][10][7] Nests can often be found on human constructions such as buildings, in open habitats on trunks and large limbs of trees, and in sheltered sites such as in caves, sheds, or under peeling bark.
[4] On average, a single female queen with 9.1 foundresses usually initiates the construction of new combs and cells to form nests.
[4] Polistes canadensis is an asynchronous species, meaning that there appears to be no relationship between the time of the year and the colony’s development.
Colonies are observed to be founded or abandoned at any time of the year, but the mean duration of the brood development stages differ between cold-dry and warm-rainy seasons.
In contrast to the aggressive actions of the queen, the unmated females are unaggressive and often workers, even if they possess developed ovaries.
In the absence of the dominant queen, most of the subordinates within the nest would be capable of laying eggs if given access to empty cells.
[5] This is similar to the behavior of queens in Polistes instabilis, who suppress ovary development in workers by performing aggressive dominance interactions.
These workers are closely related to their female nestmates (r = 0.47 ± 0.049; n = 28 nests, 145 wasps) and may not only obtain high indirect fitness by helping their nestmates, but also may gain direct fitness (in terms of personal reproduction) by taking over the reproductive role of the queen if the queen dies.
For older females who are more limited reproductively, however, the best and perhaps only option would be engage in risky foraging tasks to take care of others within their nests, thereby maximizing their own indirect fitness.
Through this chemical means of communicating alarm, the colony is able to rise quickly with its sting chambers open to defend its nest against predators.
[15] It is not known whether Polistes canadensis can release venom at the nest independent of stinging behavior in order to communicate alarm to nestmates.
[16] Present in a majority of colonies, the tineid moth (belongs to an undescribed genus) is the most common pest of Polistes canadensis.
[4] Other common parasites include three species of the obligate hymenopterous parasitoid: Seminota, Toechorychus albimaculatus and the Pachysomides iheringi.