5/8-3/4". Head much shorter then wide; neck and "waist" (pedicel) about equally constricted. Blackand white patterns on face, thorax, abdomen, and 1st antennal segment. Wings smoky.

Meadows, forest edges, and lawns.

Throughout North America.

Adults drinks nectar, fruit juices, and perhaps eats other insects. Larva feeds on insects pre-chewed by adults.

In Spring females chews wood to build small, pendant nests out of gray pulp. The 1st generation includes only female workers. They bring food several times a day to larvae. Larvae close their own cells. The nest is always constructed in the open and consists of many layers of cells that are covered on the outside, with the doorway at the bottom. In late summer males mature from unfertilized eggs and mate. They die young; only young mated females overwinter in soil or among litter.

Other