Paper wasp in flight
Polistes dominula
European Paper Wasp · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 26 July 2026
A paper wasp banking hard between stems of vetch in the July border, legs trailing - most likely the European paper wasp, now one of the commonest wasps in the city since arriving in the US in the 1970s and outcompeting several native Polistes for nest sites.
Despite the reputation, paper wasps are generally uninterested in people; the sting is a last resort, reserved for a nest under direct threat. They hunt caterpillars for the larvae, and a garden with paper wasps has fewer holes in its cabbages.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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