Polistes carnifex
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Executioner Paper Wasp sighting in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 390th most-seen of the 431 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and November–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Executioner Paper Wasp in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–July and September–October, the lowest months. Those are among Cumbres de Monterrey National Park's driest months, with about 55 mm of rain a month against 180 mm in September.
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.
7th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Executioner Paper Wasp sightings, Cumbres de Monterrey National Park ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Palo Verde National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%), Rincón de la Vieja National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 20%).
Same genus: Polistes
The closest relatives of the Executioner Paper Wasp that you can see in Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (genus Polistes, Umbrella Paper Wasps) are Neotropical Red Paper Wasp (about 10%), Unstable Paper Wasp (about 10%) and Horse Paper Wasp (about 10%), 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 Cumbres de Monterrey National Park (5 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.
