Polistes dominulus (Christ, 1791)

Dvořák, Libor, Roberts, Stuart P. M., Pla, Šumava Np and & Caer, 2006, Key to the paper and social wasps of Central Europe (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 46, pp. 221-244 : 232

Polistes dominulus (Christ, 1791)

= P. gallicus auct. nec Linnaeus, 1767

Females clearly distinct in having antennae orange beyond segment 3, a character shared with P. gallicus . Polistes gallicus differs in having yellow mandibles, black genae and black last sternum (in Central European populations), while P. dominulus has black mandibles, yellow genae and yellow on the majority of last sternum. Most Central European specimens have clypeus completely yellow, exceptionally with black spot or transverse band; the black mark is more often found towards south. Males are similar to P. biglumis in having parallelsided clypeus without longitudinal ridges, but P. biglumis has antennae blackened above (almost black) and mesoscutum with long erect hairs.

Southern element occurring in southernmost parts of Central Europe in the past. After spreading in the last decades, it is the commonest paper wasp of the Czech Republic and Slovakia at present, and it occurs from the lowest to the highest altitudes.