Journal archives for August 2023

August 31, 2023

Understanding Hypervariable Polistes: Project Update

Hello all!

I've taken another deep dive into Fuscopolistes and decided to revise the criteria of my projects in order to collect better data. The new criteria are outlined in the spreadsheets and flow charts below.

A few major changes include:

  • Combined the "Valley" and "Sonoran" forms of Polistes dorsalis californicus
  • Added a project for the "Redrobe" form of Polistes fuscatus
  • Adjusted all criteria to be mutually exclusive of other color forms and avoid confusion
  • I haven't had time to update the illustrations yet unfortunately :(

Polistes fuscatus

Polistes fuscatus - "Prairie" Form
Polistes fuscatus - "Yellow-Spot" Form
Polistes fuscatus - "Decorated" Form
Polistes fuscatus - "Quilted" Form
Polistes fuscatus - "Northern" Form
Polistes fuscatus - "Coal" Form
Polistes fuscatus - "Bleeding-Heart" Form
Polistes fuscatus - "Redrobe" Form


Polistes aurifer

Polistes aurifer - "Gilded" Form
Polistes aurifer - "Central" Form
Polistes aurifer - "Red" Form
Polistes aurifer - "Baja California" Form
Polistes aurifer - "Chihuahuan" Form
Polistes aurifer - "Oil" Form
Polistes aurifer - "Northern" Form
Polistes aurifer - "Painted" Form


Polistes dorsalis

Polistes dorsalis californicus - "Gilded" Form
Polistes dorsalis neotropicus - "Ember" Form
Polistes dorsalis neotropicus - "Central American" Form
Polistes dorsalis neotropicus - "Texas" Form
Polistes dorsalis californicus - "Valley" Form
Polistes dorsalis californicus - "Charred" Form



Uncategorized Observations:

Click here to view all observations of Polistes fuscatus that have not been identified to color form.
Click here to view all observations of Polistes aurifer that have not been identified to color form.
Click here to view all observations of Polistes dorsalis that have not been identified to color form (or to subspecies, in the case of P. d. dorsalis).


Let me know what you think!
~ Alie

Posted on August 31, 2023 01:19 AM by humanbyweight humanbyweight | 7 comments | Leave a comment

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