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Vespula squamosa (Drury, 1770)
Southern Yellowjacket
Florida native
Southern yellowjackets can be found throughout Florida and the southeastern states west into Texas to Kansas and north to the Great Lakes.
These wasps build nests underground. The female workers and males are black with yellow markings and about 1.3cm (1/2 in.) in length. The queens are much larger with a mostly orange abdomen with some slight black markings.
Vespula squamosa queens are known to invade other species nests, espcially V. maculifrons (eastern yellowjackets) killing the queen and taking over the nest to have the host workers raise her offspring.
Vespula squamosa is a member of the Vespidae - Yellowjackets, Hornets and some Wasps family.
iNaturalist profile for this species
For more information on this species, visit the following link:
Bugguide.net page for this species
Date record last modified: Feb 20, 2026
