Common Paper Wasp (and nest)

Description:

Polistes humilis is a species of wasp in the Vespidae family, and is an Australian native. It can be identified by its slender body structure and banded colouring. Adults have yellow faces and are 10-15mm long with a tannish-red colouration, and males can be distinguished from females by a yellow markings on the abdomen area. I also noticed a variation in eye colour between individuals - some black, and others a mustard-yellow. Perhaps an indication of age or gender? Paper wasps, like all ants and some bees, are social insects, with each nest being a colony of females. Only one female, the queen, lays all the eggs. All the other females are workers. At the end of the summer season, the colony produces male and fertile female wasps. They mate with the males and fertile females form other colonies. PS: A similar species is the Common Large Paper Wasp (Polistes variabilis). It looks almost identical but is larger by comparison, reaching a length of 20mm, whereas Polistes humilis is nowhere near that size. There are 11 different Polistes species found in Australia, and the Polistes humilis is the most prevalent one. Historically, Polistes variabilis has often been misidentified as a sub-species of Polistes humilis, but recent photogenic analysis has indicated that these are two separate species. PPS: The second reference link is of Polistes variabilis. I have selected this because of it's excellent photos. However, I have selected Polistes humilis for this spotting simply because of the size of the wasps I encountered. None of them were as large as 20mm, the size of Polistes variabilis.

Habitat:

Spotted this nest attached to a tree branch. Native bushland adjacent to the freshwater Quart Pot Creek, in the township of Stanthorpe, SEQ. The species is an Australian native and is mostly found in southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It was also accidentally introduced into New Zealand. Polistes humilis are important to the overall ecosystem as they are pollinators.

Notes:

I thought I was going to be attacked. You'll notice in a couple of the photos that some of the wasps are staring directly at me. I accidentally knocked the branch that the nest was hanging from, and they all turned and faced me, and stared me down with those sinister wasp eyes. They weren't great in numbers, but even a single sting from one wasp is painful. As for several stings? I wasn't going to give them the chance, and if they wanted me, they would have to chase me! Thankfully, they settled down after a short time and went back to doing wasp things.