Wasp
The largest social wasp is the Asian giant hornet, at up to in length. The various tarantula hawk wasps are of a similar size and can overpower a spider many times its own weight, and move it to its burrow, with a sting that is excruciatingly painful to humans. The solitary giant scoliid, "Megascolia procer", with a wingspan of 11.5 cm, has subspecies in Sumatra and Java; it is a parasitoid of the Atlas beetle "Chalcosoma atlas". The female giant ichneumon wasp "Megarhyssa macrurus" is long including its very long but slender ovipositor which is used for boring into wood and inserting eggs. The smallest wasps are solitary chalcid wasps in the family Mymaridae, including the world's smallest known insect, "Dicopomorpha echmepterygis" (139 micrometres long) and "Kikiki huna" with a body length of only 158 micrometres, the smallest known flying insect.
Polistes exclamans
As a vespid wasp, "P. exclamans" nests are typically made up of paper with a single layer of cells with open combs. Although nest size varies, the upper limit is around 500 cells. Although many vespid wasp nests have an outer envelope of paper, "P. exclamans" nests do not. As indicated by Strassmann and Orgren, “Nests are approximately circular, and have a single off-center pedicel usually located towards the top of the nest. Cells near the pedicle are the oldest.” "P. exclamans" are particularly able to colonize new sites as foundresses often disperse into new territories. "P. exclamans" have often been found to have nests located near man-made structures and tend to more readily build nests in and near these man-made structures. Out of six wasp species, "P. exclamans" was the only one that occupied artificial nesting sites. It prefers well-lit, open sites.