Paper Wasp

Posted by kahunna
March 26, 2008

Walking out my apartment’s door and towards my car to drive to work yesterday, I discovered a paper wasp building a nest. I turned around and grabbed a plastic vial from my new specimen collecting bag and gently and with surprising ease, scooped up the wasp and small nest into it. I placed the confused insect and its nest into the freezer until I could look at it closer after work.

Here are a few photos I took yesterday evening:

Paper Wasp (polistes stigma)

Paper Wasp

Paper Wasp nest

Paper Wasp nest

Paper Wasp close-up [1]

Paper Wasp

Paper Wasp close-up [2]

Paper Wasp

According to National Audubon Society’s Field Guide to Insects and Spiders, the paper wasp is docile compared to her cousins, the hornet and yellowjacket. A lone female usually starts to build a nest made by chewing plants until it forms a paper-like consistancy. Other Paper Wasps help out with the spawning and feeding of the brood. These worker’s wages are not the best: the lone female ends up killing them in the end.

They say the sting of this wasp is very painful. “They” is Justin O. Schmidt, the creator of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, and I tend to believe what he says. His scale starts at zero, which is defined as an insect stings that are “completely ineffective” towards us humans, up to four, the most painful of stings. How did he do it? A very simple but painful process: he had an insect sting him and he jotted down his description of the sting. I know you’re curious so here it is: the most painful sting he received was from paraponera clavata, the bullet ant (4.0+). Schmid wrote:

Paraponera clavata stings induced immediate, excruciating pain and numbness to pencil-point pressure, as well as trembling in the form of a totally uncontrollable urge to shake the affected part.

What would you expect from an insect that was named because being bitten by one is like being shot? I’m glad to read that paper wasps rarely sting unless protecting their nest. Schmidt rated the paper wasp’s sting at a 3.0:

Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.

I must have caught this one napping on the job since it was very easy to capture while it hung motionless onto its small nest-in-progress. I would have liked to have just left the wasp be, continuing to build its nest and I could monitor it over time, but I doubt it would have lasted long since the wasp made the unfortunate mistake of building its nest right above my neighbor’s door. If he did not destroy it, the grounds keeper most definitely would have. Their sting causes a potentially fatal allergic reaction, an average of three deaths a year in the US, in fact. As much noise as some of my neighbors make at night, I wouldn’t want to see that happen to them!

Further Reading:

Related posts:

apidae, hymenoptera

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader. You may also Add to Technorati Favorites!

  • foilhat2
    i was once inadvertantly stung by a paper wasp between my pinky and ring finger...

    i was putting a halter on my horse, then out of nowhere felt an excruciating sting, almost exactly as descriped on the Schmidt Pain Index... the drill analogy is perfect... it felt as though the stinger was quite deep in the skin, and when it initially happened, i looked down, it was still stuck in there, gave over four hard shakes before the wasp finally came loose... my hand then proceeded to swell, my fingers doubling in width...
  • Paige
    I just got back from vacation yesterday and in the time I was gone, one of these little suckers decided to build a nest outside of my patio right above the door. Before I realized what had happened, I heard a buzzing in my ear and the wasp had gone straight for the back of my neck.

    I, of course, freaked and ran back in my home. I checked out my sting, which had already started to swell and was hurting. Seeking revenge, I returned to my patio door with a can of Raid and to my horror, saw 8-9 wasps buzzing right outside of my door.

    Realizing my doorway was not likely a random hangout spot, I located the nest dangling menacingly above my door just outside.

    I found the original culprit wasp in my home and flying into my patio door trying to get outside and swiftly sprayed extensive amounts of poison at it. Squeamishly, I cracked open my door and sprayed directly onto the rest of the nest. One by one, they began to fall to the ground until the nest was barren. Deciding to wait til dark to actually remove the nest, I am now free of them!

    The sting is still visable and will occasionally hurt a bit, but I think I got lucky.

    I hate wasps.
  • Sandy
    I was in the storage room and it was like someone had shot me.
    It was two day ago and it still has a an itch. I put ice on it and I took itch medication but it still itches. I don't know how long this itch is going to drive me nuts so I think maybe I should go to the clinic on Monday. The pain was terrible and then I had a red area about 3 by 3. I never saw the wasp or what ever it was but I will never forget it. Ice helped the pain.
  • Hi Tammey. It sounds like you need to see a doctor, especially if you are still experiencing reaction to the sting after two weeks. You might be experiencing a mild allergic reaction to the sting, or it might be a symptom of the type of wasp that stung you - either way, have it checked out!
  • Tammey Chambers
    Two weeks ago I was stung by a paper wasp at the base of my left thumb. There was excruciating pain followed by my thumb convulsing then it went completely numb and has been so since. It is extremely sensitive to cold and hot sending an electric shock up my forarm. My question is, Is this normal? Or am I having am allegeric reaction. I can't seem to find any information on wasps with this reaction.
blog comments powered by Disqus