native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia, and introduced widely in temperate regions worldwide
Fine-art photographic collection
Vespula germanica
A paper-nest society that can become a giant multi-year supercolony where mild winters remove the annual reset.
About this species
German Wasp
Vespula germanica(Fabricius, 1793)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Vespula germanica is a social wasp native to Eurasia and North Africa and invasive in many temperate regions. A queen normally founds a paper nest in spring, but colonies can survive beyond one season in warm introduced climates.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Vespidae · Vespula
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia, and introduced widely in temperate regions worldwideBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Woodland, farmland, towns and gardens, with nests underground or in sheltered cavities.
Workers forage by day from spring into autumn; perennial colonies may remain active much longer.
Adults take sugary liquids; larvae receive chewed insects and other protein.
Highly social; annual colonies contain a queen and thousands of workers, while perennial nests may become much larger.
What makes this species remarkable?
Workers scrape weathered wood, chew the fibres with saliva and spread the pulp into layered paper combs and a protective nest envelope.
In mild invaded climates some colonies survive winter instead of dying, growing into enormous perennial nests with multiple queens and extraordinary worker numbers.
Larvae are fed captured insects and in return release sugar-rich droplets to workers, creating a two-way nutritional exchange inside the colony.
More photographs
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