Red-banded yellowjacket
Vespula rufa (Linnaeus, 1758)
Status not recordedbees wasps and ants
The red-banded yellowjacket (Vespula rufa) is a species in the family Vespidae, order Hymenoptera. Recorded adults reach 2 cm in length.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the red-banded yellowjacket
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- 1.3 cm – 2 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grassland, human_modified
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the red-banded yellowjacket?
Where does the red-banded yellowjacket live?
Not recorded
Is the red-banded yellowjacket endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the red-banded yellowjacket classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderHymenoptera
- familyVespidae
- genusVespula
- SpeciesVespula rufa (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Paravespula rufa, Vespa intermedia, Vespa rufa, Vespa schrenckii, Vespa sibirica, Vespula grahami, Vespula intermedia, Vespula obscura, Vespula schrenckii
Other names and names in other languages (23)
- European red-banded yellowjacketEnglish
- Red waspEnglish
- vosa ryšaváCzech
- Rød gedehamsDanish
- Rote WespeGerman
- Avispa euroasiática de bandas rojasSpanish
- Ruske-maaherilaneEstonian
- Puna-ampiainenFinnish
- Guêpe rougeFrench
- pirosfoltos darázsHungarian
- ツヤクロスズメバチJapanese
- 노랑띠땅벌Korean
- Rudoji VapsvaLithuanian
- Rød vepsNorwegian Bokmål
- Rode wespDutch
- raudvepsNorwegian Nynorsk
- Osa rudawaPolish
- Оса рыжаяRussian
- osa červenkastáSlovak
- rödbandad getingSwedish
- Оса рудаUkrainian
- 北方黃胡蜂Chinese
- Guêpe rousseFrench
Relatives of the red-banded yellowjacket
Other species in the same genus Vespula.

Common wasp
Vespula vulgaris

German wasp
Vespula germanica
Cuckoo wasp
Vespula austriaca
Common Asian yellowjacket
Vespula flaviceps
Western yellowjacket
Vespula pensylvanica
Eastern yellowjacket
Vespula maculifrons
CompareRed-banded yellowjacket vs Common waspRed-banded yellowjacket vs German waspRed-banded yellowjacket vs Cuckoo waspRed-banded yellowjacket vs Common Asian yellowjacket
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the red-banded yellowjacket?
An adult red-banded yellowjacket measures 1.3 cm – 2 cm long, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What kind of animal is the red-banded yellowjacket?
The red-banded yellowjacket (Vespula rufa) belongs to the family Vespidae in the order Hymenoptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Red-banded yellowjacket (Vespula rufa). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-banded-yellowjacket
“Red-banded yellowjacket (Vespula rufa).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-banded-yellowjacket.
@misc{red_banded_yellowjacket_2026,
title = {Red-banded yellowjacket (Vespula rufa)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/red-banded-yellowjacket},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}