European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) (Christ, 1791) Μυρμιδόνες - Cyprus

The European paper wasp (Polistes dominula, often misspelled as dominulus) is one of the more common and well-known species of social wasps in the genus Polistes. Its diet is more versatile than that of most Polistes species (many genera of insects versus mainly caterpillars in other Polistes), making it superior over many others during the shortage of resources. The dominant females (queens) are the principal egg layers, while the subordinate females ("auxiliaries") primarily forage and do not lay eggs. This hierarchy is not permanent, however; when the queen (alpha-female) is removed from the nest, the second-most dominant female (beta-female) displaces the role of the previous queen. Dominance in females is determined by the severity of the scattered-ness in the coloration of the clypeus (face), whereas dominance in males is shown by the variation of spots of their abdomens. Polistes dominula is far from being extinct or even being in danger due to their exceptional survival features such as productive colony cycle, short development time, higher ability to endure predator attacks and many more.

Polistes dominula wasps have a lek-based mating system. Unlike most social insects, 35% of Polistes dominula wasps in a colony are unrelated. It is considered an invasive species in Canada and the United States.

The native range of Polistes dominula covers much of southern Europe and North Africa, and temperate parts of Asia as far east as China. It has also been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and North and South America. Since the mid-1980s, the population of P. dominula has expanded to rather cooler regions, especially towards northern Europe. It is speculated that global warminghas raised temperatures of certain areas, allowing P. dominula to expand to originally cooler regions.

The first North American occurrence of P. dominula was reported in Massachusetts in the late 1970s,^[12] and by 1995 this species had been documented throughout the northeastern USA.^[13] However, there is a large possibility that the species is also present in additional states, but has just not yet been reported. Although detailed mechanisms of the species' dispersal are still unknown, it is likely that some number of individuals, including the foundresses, may have hidden inside transportable items such as shipping crates, trailers, boats, or other human-made structures that were used during international trading between countries

Polistes dominula generally live in temperate, terrestrial habitats such as chaparral, forest and grassland biomes. They also have the propensity to colonize nearby human civilizations because human-made structures can act as great shelters and also oftentimes located close to the resources such as food. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Photos and video Nicosia,Agios Sozomenos by George Konstantinou