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Ropalidia revolutionalis
Small colony wasp ~ 1-1.5cm long, building paper cell nests in long rows.
Subtropical Queensland suburban yard, here on murraya hedge, but also on the eaves, in the hedge and in many of the trees. Brown in colour, nasty sting when disturbed and they will all come at you at once. Left to themselves these wasps will help control caterpillars and potentially deter any fool who attempts to go through the hedge to climb in the window.
I don’t have a love/hate relationship with these but I certainly do curse them fairly frequently when trying to garden. Inside hedges are favourite spots. Need strong encouragement to abandon a nest and can make pruning, um, complicated. Not having a hazmat suit available today, no close ups.
Spotted on Jan 31, 2023
Submitted on Jan 31, 2023
1 Comment
Ps. I never thought to “spot” these as they are so common, but decided they are such a feature of wildlife here that it makes sense even if its just for me to look up exactly what they are. I had already deduced that I have the long nest ones, not the upside down cone nest ones. I’m assuming they must be territorial?