Polistes carnifex
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Polistes carnifex, commonly known as the executioner wasp or executioner paper wasp, is a neotropical vespid wasp in the cosmopolitan genus Polistes. It is a large yellow and brown paper wasp with a mandible that contains teeth. It establishes small colonies, founded by solitary queens, which build nests under the eaves of buildings or suspended from branches. Foraging adults bring nectar and macerated prey back to the nest to feed to the developing larvae which are individually housed in separate cells in the nest.
As its range includes only small portions of the English-speaking Americas, P. carnifex has only recently taken on an English vernacular name, but in the mid-2010s the name executioner wasp was proposed, a calque upon the Latin specific name carnifex "executioner, hangman".
In Paraguay, it is usually known in Guaraní as kava mainomby "hummingbird wasp", in reference to its great size; less commonly, it is called kava alazán "brown wasp" (more usually used for P. cavapyta), or kava sa'yju "yellow wasp" (more usually used for Agelaia multipicta or A. pallipes). In the Mexican state of Guerrero, speakers of Malinaltepec refer to the executioner wasp and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cali | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | João Pessoa | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 5 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Executioner Paper Wasp sighting in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 19th most-seen of the 52 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report an Executioner Paper Wasp in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, July–August, October and December, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Executioner Paper Wasp sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Executioner Paper Wasp sightings, Bastimentos Island National Marine Park ranks 3rd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Palo Verde National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Rincón de la Vieja National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Executioner Paper Wasp is recorded against all the insects logged in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (11 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
