Mischocyttarus mexicanus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Mischocyttarus mexicanus is a New World species of paper wasp that exhibits facultative eusocial behavior and includes at least two subspecies living in the southern United States and Central America. This social wasp species is a good model for studying the selective advantage of different nesting tactics within a single species. M. mexicanus females can form nests both as individuals and as members of a colony, and are even known to switch between these two nesting strategies throughout their life, which is an unusual phenomenon in the field of social biology. Individuals in a colony have particular social roles that are plastic, as opposed to rigid castes, and brood parasitism and usurpation have been observed between unrelated conspecifics. They nest in a variety of types of plants and human constructions, although they have most frequently been observed in palm trees, and they are known to interact with a number of other species as prey, competitors over resources, or foragers.
M. mexicanus was described by Henri de Saussure in 1854, and it is a member of the social polistine wasp genus Mischocyttarus. Mischocyttarus is actually cited as the largest... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mexican Paper Wasp sighting in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 110th most-seen of the 189 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July to January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mexican Paper Wasp in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge on a given day, against under 5% in February to June, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mexican 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 4 parks where we can rate Mexican Paper Wasp sightings, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Big Cypress National Preserve (United States, about 10%) and Everglades National Park (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mexican Paper Wasp is recorded against all the insects logged in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (10 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.
