Polistes dominulus and its movements in the USA

Kurt M. Pickett, Norman F. Johnson & Luciana Musetti

Polistes dominulus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae, Polistini) is an Old World paper wasp that has a native range from Europe to China. The species is by far the most common Polistes in Western Europe. The group has a high rate of reproductive increase (Pickett and Wenzel in review), and therefore is an excellent invader.

P. dominulus has successfully invaded the New World--independently in South America (Chile) and North America--and is rapidly expanding its range in the United States. Since its discovery in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1981 (Hathaway 1982, cited as P. gallicus), it has spred west to Wisconsin and at least as far south as Virginia. It was recently discovered in Sacramento, California and Washington state. As there are no records of P. dominulus from the states intervening these western-most states and its known contiguous range in the east, it is unknown if these populations are a result of a continuous spread across North America or if they are transplants.

In order to better study the species, we are applying state-of-the-art bioinformatics technology to predict the future movements of P. dominulus across the US.

Works Cited

• Hathaway, M. A. (1981). "Polistes gallicus in Massachusetts (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)." Psyche. 88: 169-173.
• Hathaway, M. A. (1986) A new paper wasp in North America. Pest Management. 6(7): 32-34.
• Johnson, N. F and L. Musetti. (in press)."Data warehousing architecture and tools for Hymenoptera biodiversity informatics." Proceedings of the 4th International Hymenoptera Conference. January 6-11, 1999, Canberra, Australia.
• Judd, T. M. and J. M. Carpenter. (1996) "Polistes dominulus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) found in Michigan. The Great Lakes Entomologist. 29(1): 45-46.
• Pickett, K. M. and J. W. Wenzel. (in review). "High productivity in the introduced paper wasp Polistes dominulus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae; Polistinae)."
• Wegner, G. S. (1997). Bees and Wasps. In: Handbook of pest control (D. Moreland, Ed.). Mallis Handbook and Technical Training Co. 8th Edition. pp. 590-632.