Lerak paper wasp (Polistes tenebricosus)

Lerak paper wasp (Polistes tenebricosus) is a species of animal in Vespidae, a predator, living in a colony and making nests, usually close to human habitats which may on some occasions be disturbing even though they are not aggressive insects, but will respond if the nest is disturbed.

P. tenebricosus has a dominant black or dark brown color or light brown ring on the abdomen, a rough, shiny and hairless surface. Big black eyes and triangular scissor jaws. A pair of antennas, wide-ranging, dark brown with black tips.

A pair of translucent brown wings with a black bone and several dark brown veins. Stomach shaped water droplets, have five rings with spaces of different colors or the same and a pointed tip. Joints legs have small spines.

Lerak paper wasp has four life stages. The creation phase begins when a solitary female or initial group builds a nest by forming petioles on the roof of a house, stone or tree. The nest consists of hexagonal cells with each cell surrounded by six other cells to lay eggs.

Mother females feed the hatched larvae. The larvae grow into adolescents and take on the role of workers in charge of protecting their mother who acts as a queen until their new siblings are born.

The workers phase begins about two months after the colony is formed. These workers are females in charge of looking for food, caring for new larvae and guarding nests.

The reproduction phase begins when reproductive females emerge from brood cells that are different from working females due to the amount of fat deposits and cryoprotectant carbohydrate compounds. Sometimes reproductive males emerge and the two reproduce out of the nest to mate and form separate colonies.

The intermediate phase begins when the behavior of guarding larvae and gathering food decreases, the number of female workers decreases, individual, aggression in the colony increases and social life in the nest is chaotic.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Infraorder: Aculeata
Superfamily: Vespoidea
Family: Vespidae
Subfamily: Polistinae
Tribe: Polistini
Genus: Polistes
Subgenus: Gyrostoma
Species: Polistes tenebricosus

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