Skip to main content

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.

Dlium Lerak paper wasp (Polistes tenebricosus)


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

Popular Posts

Plumeria rubra and Plumeria obtusa, the differences

SPECIES HEAD TO HEAD - The genus frangipani trees ( Plumeria Tourn. ex L.) has only 18 officially recorded species and two very similar species, frangipani ( Plumeria rubra L.) and white frangipani ( Plumeria obtusa L.). Both have the same habitus, flowers and fruits and are difficult to distinguish. The leaves of both species have slightly different shapes. Therefore, the leaves are very important to distinguish the two species, especially the shape of the tip. P. rubra has simple, lanceolate leaves with acute tips. P. obtusa has simple, elliptic leaves with rounded tips. By Aryo Bandoro Founder of Dlium.com . You can follow him on X: @Abandoro . Read more: Plumeria rubra Plumeria obtusa

Bugang (Clerodendrum calamitosum)

Bugang ( Clerodendrum calamitosum ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae family. It is an erect shrub, growing up to 1 meter tall, with cylindrical, green stems and white hairs. The leaves are opposite. The leaf blade is oval, wavy, with a central main vein with numerous pinnate minor veins, and serrated margins. The leaves are up to 9 cm long and 7 cm wide. The petiole is up to 2 cm long. The flowers are star-shaped, white, up to 3 cm in diameter and up to 6 cm in total length. The fruit is round, dark green, turning black when ripe. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Subfamily: Ajugoideae Genus: Clerodendrum L. in Sp. Pl.: 637 (1753) Species: Clerodendrum calamitosum L. in Mant. Pl. 1: 90 (1767) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Clerodendrum fastigiatum (W.Hunter ex Ridl.) H.J.Lam in Verben. Malay. Archip.: 317 (1919) Volkameria alternifolia Burm.f. in Fl. Indica: 137 (1768) Volkameria fastigiata W.Hunter...

Common sun skink (Eutropis multifasciata)

Kadal kebun or bengkarung or Mabuya multifasciata or common sun skink ( Eutropis multifasciata ) is a species of lizard in Scincidae, has a pattern of faint lines extending to the sides of the body, measuring 18 to 22 cm in length with a tail length of about 60% of the overall body and more many live on the ground. E. multifasciata has a sharp head with a very short neck and a square cross section. The upper part is dark brown or shiny grayish brown with a golden body side especially near the neck. Sometimes also decorated with small pale spots on the back. The lower neck is light brown and the abdomen to the anus is pale brown. The muzzle is reddish, the tail is the same color as the body, decorated with a faint dark line on the sides. The arms are also the same color as the upper body. Common sun skinks usually live on the edge of forests, gardens, rice fields and human settlements. They spend most of their time on the ground, usually in crevices and rocky cliffs as a place t...