Polistes rubiginosus

Polistes rubiginosus
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Vespidae
Subfamily: Polistinae
Genus: Polistes
Species:
P. rubiginosus
Binomial name
Polistes rubiginosus
Synonyms
  • Polistes perplexus Cresson, 1872
  • Polistes generosus Cresson, 1872
  • Polistes carolina (Linnaeus, 1767) in part

Polistes rubiginosus is one of two species of red paper wasp found in the eastern United States (the other being Polistes carolina) and is noted for the coarser ridges on its propodeum. It is a social wasp (subfamily Polistinae) in the family Vespidae. Until taxonomic revision by Matthias Buck in 2012, P. rubiginosus was long known under the name P. perplexus. It occurs northernmost from Maryland, Pennsylvania to northern Ohio, south to Florida, and from there west to central Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona.