Scott Nacko

Polistes aurifer in their extreme desert color form. These individuals survive in conditions that frequently reach upwards of 49C. Some research suggests pale yellow pigment can block harmful UV rays, but it also acts as a heat sink. More research is definitely needed!

These P. aurifer sisters decided to nest on the floor. Well that’s a first for me !

Time to pin some of the more rarely encountered social wasps from this season. Can anyone guess the species ?

@mjett15 They are paper wasps. Their nests are annual - they die out each winter and start anew in the spring

@NackoScott What exactly are these? I've lived in West Virginia all my life and I've never seen these anywhere until this summer and still seeing them today. They've started a nest on my porch light.

Despite the temperature remaining around 37C/100F each day, a lot of the local Polistes are already inactive in Houston TX

Polistes erythrocephalus is this first of many species checked off my Costa Rica social wasp bucket list!

P. parametricus starting off the season with many queen this year, unlike the lone P. fuscatus queen under the hand rail

Rescued this Bombus perplexus queen and her nest from a pile of soaking wet shredded plastic in a pit of rocks. It’s incredible what will pass as suitable for some queens!

Polistes carolina & P. rubiginosus are both striking red wasps in the southern USA, and look superficially similar. They can be differentiated by pubescence on the lower gena and ridging on the propodeum. Rubiginosus is also noticeably larger!

Antennal drumming is still poorly understood in Polistes, but is suspected to be a mechanism by which queens may bias the caste of developing larvae. I've observed it in all 13 species I've worked with!

A unique viewpoint of P. apachus gluing her nest in place

Polistes apachus starting off the nesting season!

New paper in @CurrentBiology on the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus #wasplove We show that cooperation selects for recognition. More cooperative wasps have more color pattern diversity and stronger evidence of selection on cognition! @jamestumulty et al cell.com/current-biolog…

Just another day rescuing Polistes wasps

@Padraig_Kennedy @NatGeo @BristolBioSci @NHM_Science @asab_tweets Are you considering post doc, or only PhD at this time?

Another interesting aggregation of inactive Polistes on a 29C sunny day

I think Polistes annularis will always be one of my favorites

Its a bit crowded during the final month at the Vespula vidua nest as the queens chill out before dispersing

Heat stress survival and thermal tolerance of Australian stingless bees - new paper from my PhD out now! doi.org/10.1016/j.jthe…

Stunning new queen and male Polistes parametricus. Individuals this year are redder than usual