Yellow-banded Polybia Wasp

Scientific name: Polybia occidentalis

Insects

Venomous

Yellow-banded Polybia Wasp — Photo: (c) Erick Noe Tapia Banda, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)CC-BY-NC licenceSee the original photo

Venomous

Mild discomfort

This small wasp's sting is a brief burn, milder than a bee's; washing the area and a cold compress are all most people need. It does defend its nest as a group, so admire its papery nests from a distance.

Source: Justin O. Schmidt, The Sting of the Wild (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016) — sting pain index

Seen here

Somebody photographed it here and the identification passed community review.

86 verified records

Sightings whose identification was reviewed by the iNaturalist community.

When it is seen

Recorded year-round

Recorded at this time of year

Yellow-banded Polybia Wasp

When it is seen

Yellow-banded Polybia Wasp

When it is seen

Ecosystems