Perennial-colony
Guides
Vespula squamosa
southern yellowjacket
Vespula squamosa, the southern yellowjacket, is a social wasp native to eastern North America, ranging from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic coast and south through Mexico to Guatemala. The species exhibits remarkable social plasticity: most colonies are annual and headed by a single queen, but in warmer climates colonies may become perennial, persisting multiple years and reaching extreme sizes with multiple reproductive queens (polygyny). Approximately 85% of colonies begin through facultative social parasitism, with V. squamosa queens usurping nests of V. maculifrons (eastern yellowjacket) or V. vidua (widow yellowjacket). Workers are approximately 13 mm long with black and yellow striping; queens are larger and more orange in coloration. The species is expanding its range northward and is now common in the Mid-Atlantic region.