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 João Pessoa on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 19th most-seen of the 56 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.
November
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report an Executioner Paper Wasp in João Pessoa on a given day, against under 5% in June–July, September and December–February, the lowest months. That is one of João Pessoa's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 230 mm in June.
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.
2nd of 6
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Executioner Paper Wasp sightings, João Pessoa ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Cali (Colombia, about 30%).
Same order: Hymenoptera
The closest relatives of the Executioner Paper Wasp that you can see in João Pessoa (order Hymenoptera, Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies) are Common Giant Turtle Ant (about 30%), Traumatomutilla indica (about 20%) and Spiny-Legged Stingless Bee (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Executioner Paper Wasp is recorded against all the insects logged in João Pessoa (8 verified sightings), 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.
