Polybia sericea

Description

Polybia sericea is a social, tropical wasp of the family Vespidae that can be found in South America. It founds its colonies by swarming migrations, and feeds on nectar as well as other arthropods. P. sericea is medium in size, and has a dark-colored body. The wasps build multi-tiered nests, and colony size can vary greatly between a few workers to a few thousand. Queens can be distinguished from workers by their greater body size and smaller head size. They tend to be polygynous, meaning that there are several egg-laying queens within a nest, with the result that workers are generally less related to each other than in other eusocial species. Workers are responsible for hunting and foraging, while queens are responsible for laying eggs, and have the most developed ovaries. When hunting for prey, workers rely heavily on visual and olfactory cues. Prey include arthropods such as green and brown caterpillars.