Vespid

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Vespid wasps

Vespula maculata
Whitefaced Hornet

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Subphylum:	Hexapoda
Class:	Insecta
Subclass:	Pterygota
Infraclass:	Neoptera
Superorder:	Endopterygota
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder	Apocrita
Superfamily	Vespoidea
Family:	Vespidae

Genera

Vespula (yellowjackets)

Vespa (hornets)

Polistes (paper wasps)

etc.

The vespids are a family of wasps, including the social wasps. Each colony includes a queen and a number of sterile workers. They only last one year, dying at the onset of winter. New queens and males are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queens overwinter in cracks or other sheltered locations. The nests are constructed out of plant fibres, chewed to form a sort of paper.

The baldfaced hornet or American hornet pictured on the right is not a true hornet; rather it is a yellowjacket.

Vespid nest
( larger version

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