Polistes bahamensis
Polistes bahamensis is a large species of colourful paper wasp in the genus Polistes of the family Vespidae which occurs in the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana. It is also said to occur in Georgia. Taxonomy It was first described as an endemic new species from the Bahamas by Joseph Charles Bequaert and George Salt in 1931, consisting of three varieties based on geography and patterns of coloured markings, P. bahamensis var. bahamensis, P. bahamensis var. bilineolatus and P. bahamensis var. picturatus. The nominate variety of bahamensis was reported to be an endemic of Andros Island, var. bilineolatus was only found in the central islands of New Providence and Eleuthera, and var. picturatus was known from Acklins, Mariguana, Rum Cay, Crooked Island, Long Island, Watlings Island and Cat Island. In 1940 Bequaert subsumed the species and its three varieties under P. exclamans, as well as described another new variety in that species, P. exclamans var. louisianus, from three female specimens caught in New Orleans. In 1955 the variety louisianus was synonymised with P. exclamans sensu stricto by Roy Snelling, who stated that after examining large amounts of the wasps from two nests recovered in New Orleans, the vast majority of the