Paper wasps belong to the genus Polistes. They "are the most familiar of Missouri's social wasps," according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. They colonize both urban and rural areas. In the spring, a fertile queen, sometimes assisted by other females that survived the winter, construct a simple nest out of paper. They make the paper from bits of wood mixed with saliva. The fertile queen's first eggs produce the workers that take care of the nest.
The yellow jacket, an aggressive social wasp of the genus Vespula, is found throughout the state. Similar social wasps are the European Hornet the Vespa crabro, which lives in the Ozarks, and bald faced hornets of the genus Dolichovespula. The life cycle of hornets and yellow jackets closely resembles that of the paper wasps, but their nests are more elaborate. While the cup-like cells on the bottom of paper wasp nest are exposed to view, hornets and yellow jackets enclose these cells in a paper envelope.
Sphecius speciosus, the cicada killer, makes its nest in the ground, often in lawns or pastures. Cicada killers are solitary wasps, but several females share a communal tunnel by which each can access its own cell. Females paralyze cicadas with their sting and lay eggs on them. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the live but paralyzed cicadas. Unlike the belligerent yellow jacket, female cicada killers will not sting intruders to protect their home. Males menace intruders, but they have no sting. Other Missouri solitary wasps that live close to one another in a complex are Sphex ichneumoneus, the great golden digger, and various species of sand wasps.
A solitary wasp called the mud dauber builds multiple nests of mud, often on the sides of buildings or such structures as bridges. Some species use the abandoned nests of other wasps instead of building their own nests. Sceliphron, Trypargilum and Chalybion are mud dauber genera that live in Missouri. Mud Daubers provide spiders for their larvae.
The potter Wasp, another solitary wasp, make a nest that resembles a jug or jar. They construct these in any convenient spot. They sometimes suspend them from twigs or a man-made structure such as a window sill. Not all potter's wasp species reside in Missouri, but the range of Eumenes smithii belfragei extends into the state.