Polistes snelleni
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Polistes snelleni, the Japanese paper wasp, is a common social wasp species in central and northern Japan. P. snelleni is also found in northern China, Korea, and the Russian Far East. Due to the different climates in these regions, P. snelleni is able to adapt to different temperatures and climatic conditions. P. snelleni is typically found in hilly or submontane areas, so they are classified in the semi-highland category.
P. snelleni is in the genus Polistes, with the subgenus Polistella, a paraphyletic subgenus. P. snelleni is most closely related to Polistes stigma bernadii. It is also closely related to Polistes japonicus. P. snelleni has been studied alongside Polistes chinensis, and Polistes biglumis for comparison in worker-worker conflict, which are two other paper wasps.
P. snelleni wasps are black and yellow. The queens are the biggest of the species, and the workers, young queens, and males follow. Workers typically have worn wings that distinguish them from young queens. The weight of new reproductive females (young queens) is 102 mg. Workers can be identified by white-creamy body fat. Workers that have developed... Wikipedia →
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More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Polistes snelleni sighting in Tokyo on a given day, based on 55 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 229th most-seen of the 1013 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.
April to July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Polistes snelleni in Tokyo on a given day, against under 5% in August to March, the lowest months.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 cities where we can rate Polistes snelleni sightings, Tokyo ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Guiyang (China, about 30%) and Nanjing (China, about 10%).
Same genus: Polistes
The closest relatives of the Polistes snelleni that you can see in Tokyo (genus Polistes, Umbrella Paper Wasps) are Dark-Waisted Paper Wasp (about 10%) and Rothney's Paper Wasp (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Polistes snelleni is recorded against all the insects logged in Tokyo (55 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.
