Polistes apachus
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Polistes apachus is a social wasp native to western North America. It is known in English by the common name Texas paper wasp, or southwestern Texas paper wasp. It has also been called the Apache wasp, perhaps first by Simmons et al. in California in 1948. Simmons et al. reported how in California P. apachus is often found in fig orchards where it is considered a pest species due to its aggressive attacks and painful stings on farm labourers during harvest time in September and October. It may sometimes also be found in other types of orchards or in vineyards, but in California it is also commonly found to establish nests in or on houses in urban areas in attics or under the eaves of buildings. It is a type of paper wasp, which is the common name for a type of wasp that uses a papery material to construct its nests.
Polistes apachus was originally named by Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure in 1857. A phylogenic study by Pickett et al. in 2006 was unable to resolve anything useful regarding the relationships of the different Polistes species amongst one another.
A 1981 study of two nests of P. apachus from a university campus in Texas found that although most specimens... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Apache Paper Wasp sighting in Big Bend National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 283rd most-seen of the 329 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, May–June and October–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Apache Paper Wasp in Big Bend National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, July–September and December–January, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Apache Paper Wasp sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Big Bend National Park, in our data
Big Bend National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Apache Paper Wasp sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Polistes
The closest relatives of the Apache Paper Wasp that you can see in Big Bend National Park (genus Polistes, Umbrella Paper Wasps) are Comanche Paper Wasp (about 30%), Golden Paper Wasp (about 10%) and Yellow Paper Wasp (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Apache Paper Wasp is recorded against all the insects logged in Big Bend National Park (6 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.
