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Golden Paper Wasp

Polistes aurifer

Golden paper wasp on vegetation

A native Pacific Northwest paper wasp, less frequently encountered than the introduced European species. It builds an open comb and gathers insects for its young. Brown and yellow coloring is a useful starting clue, not a complete identification.

A native paper wasp

Golden paper wasps are native to the Pacific Northwest. Brown and yellow coloring can help you begin an identification, but similar-looking wasps make color alone unreliable.

An open nursery

The exposed comb holds developing young. Adults return with insect food, especially caterpillars, and care for the brood together.

Sharing the garden

Watching a foraging wasp is different from approaching its colony. Give occupied nests space, especially when gardening or using a ladder near sheltered nest sites.

Advice for sharing space with wasps

Learn More

Read the university identification and biology guide

Explore WSU’s regional colony lifecycle (PDF, 2003)

Photograph & license

Golden Paper Wasp — xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and converted to WebP.

The photograph illustrates this species or group; it was not necessarily taken in Oregon.

Solitary wasp

A solitary wasp has no colony of workers helping raise her young. A female may stock her own nest cells with food, or find a host for her developing offspring. Solitary describes social life; parasitoid describes a feeding strategy. A wasp can be both.

Social wasp

Social wasps share a nest and cooperate in raising young. In yellowjacket and paper wasp colonies, reproductive females lay eggs and workers help feed the brood and maintain the nest. They can defend that nest, so observing a forager is different from approaching a colony.

Non-native Social wasp

This is a social wasp introduced beyond its natural range. In this case the European paper wasp was introduced to North America from Europe, probably hidden in shipping materials. Non-native describes its origin, while social describes colony life.