Common Large Paper Wasp – Polistes variabilis, house eve, North Tamborine.
This is the fourth and final paper wasp nest in my Animal Builders album.
It belongs to the same genus as the smaller wasp which suspended its nest from a metal railing at Paradise Point, and grows to a length of two centimetres.
There are some 35 paper wasp species in Australia.
All require a constant source of water which they drink to assist with nest building.
The water is added to timber and plant fibres to make the paper from which the complex hexagonal egg cell is formed. The nest consists of layers of conjoined cells in the shape of an upside-down wine glass of variable depth.
The species is found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
