Overview
Only three of the six subfamilies occur naturally in the region. The Eumeninae, comprising 80% of Australian species, are all solitary and nest in soil, pre-existing tunnels in wood, the mud nests of other wasps or construct their own mud nests, which the
y provision wi
th lepidopteran (moth and butterfly) caterpillars for their developing larvae. Marsarinae are also solitary and nest mostly in the ground, but provision their nests with pollen and nectar. The Polistinae and introduced Vespinae are
eusocial. T
hey construct 'paper' nests of chewed wood, and progressively feed their larvae with lepidopteran larvae or other insect prey. Polistines mostly build exposed, often flattened bell-shaped nests and adult wasps rest on the outside. Polistines are also known from New Guinea and other island groups in the south-west Pacific. Originally from India and Asia, the yellow oriental paper wasp,
Polistes olivaceus
, has become established in New Caledonia and several other south-west pacific islands, and has recently been found in New South Wales and New Zealand. Vespinae are known from tw
o introduced
species in Australia and New Zealand (
Vepsula germanica
and
V. vulgaris
). Commonly known as European wasps, these species construct large ball-shaped nests underground or in trees or buildings that can contain several thousand wasps. Worker wasps forage for nectar, fruit, honeydew as an energy source and prey on a wide range of arthropods which are brought back to the nest and fed to the larvae.
Description
Vespids are characterised by usually having the inner margin of the eyes strongly emarginate, the postero-lateral corners of the pronotum acutely pointed above the tegulae, both sexes being fully winged, the fore wings usually folded longitudinally at rest, and body size small to medium (5 30 mm).
Distribution
The paper wasps are a diverse, commonly encountered family comprising about 350 described species in Australia. The family is naturally absent from New Zealand but is now represented b
y five introduced s
pecies.
Further information about the Vespidae can be found in Brothers & Finnamore 1993, Carpenter 1986, Carpenter 1987, Carpenter 1997, Naumann 1991 and Richards 1978.