Brachygastra
genus of insects
Honey wasps are species in the genus Brachygastra (from Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús), meaning "short", and γαστήρ (gastḗr), meaning "belly") of the family Vespidae. Brachygastra comprises 17 species of social paper wasps. The ancestral species are thought to have diverged about 32 million years ago within diverse Amazon rainforest. Subsequent speciation within the genus is thought to have mostly occurred between 23 Ma and 10 Ma, during the time of the Andean uplift when the landscape was significantly altered due to tectonic activity. The current cladistic organisation of the genus has been heavily reliant on morphological characteristics.
Brachygastra species live in colonies and construct arboreal paper nests in humid forest environments, although several species occur in open vegetation. They are widely distributed in Central and South America, and also occur in southwest areas of North America. They have a broad diet consisting of floral nectar and insect protein. Several species are known to collect and store nectar in large amounts as honey, a characteristic in the insect world only shared with various bee species, a few wasp species (Polybia spp.), and a few ant species (Myrmecocystus spp. and other genera).
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2083423. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Brachygastra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.