Paper wasps are 3/4 to 1 inch long, slender, narrow-waisted wasps with smoky black wings that are folded lengthwise when at rest.

Paper wasps are usually brown with yellow markings on the head, thorax and bands on the abdomen.

Paper wasps should not be confused with yellowjackets and baldfaced hornets. Paper wasp nests are open and cells are not covered with a cap (in an envelope).

Paper wasp colonies contain three castes: workers, queens and males. Fertilized queens, which appear similar to workers, hide themselves through the winter in protected habitats such as cracks and crevices in structures or under tree bark.

In the spring they select a nesting site and begin to build a nest (nests are built from wood fibre collected from posts and occasionally from live plant stems).