Polistes macaensis (Fabricius)

Swezey, O. H., 1942, Wasps of Guam, Insects of Guam I, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, pp. 184-187 : 186

6. Polistes macaensis (Fabricius) .

Vespa macaiinsis Fabricius , Ent. Syst. 2: 259, 1793.

Polistes macaensis (Fabricius) , Syst. Piezatorum, 272, 1804.

Polistes hebraeus (Fabricius) Fullaway , Haw. Ent. Soc., Proc. 2: 283, 1913.

Agana, March 27 , 28, Bryan , May 25, Swezey ; Piti, May 23, Swezey , June 2, Usinger , Oct. 12 , 31, Swezey ; Talofofo, June 11 , Nov. 18, two specimens dead with parasitic fungus, one fastened on a leaf, the other on a nest, Swezey .

This very common yellowjacket wasp was collected in Guam by Fullaway and recorded under the name P. hebraeus , a related species which has been synonymized with P. macaensis in some of the literature. It occurs in Hawaii and other Pacific island groups. It is common and widely distributed in Guam.

These wasps are useful in gardens as they habitually carry caterpillars and young grasshoppers home for feeding the larvae in their paper nests. Their cibundance may be indicated by the size of nests found. One nest, four inches in diameter, contained 193 cells, in each of which a wasp had grown to maturity.