This wasp is about 14 mm long, roughly the size of a honey bee. Like a honey bee, it packs a powerful sting, but unlike a honey bee it can sting repeatedly. [Barbs on the honey bee's stinger catch in human skin. The stinger and connected organs remain in the elastic skin when the bee pulls away, a fatal injury to the bee.] Yellow jackets live in colonies up to 15,000 individuals, which are differentiated into haploid males, the diploid queen, and diploid female workers. Like the paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus), the nest is made from a mixture of saliva and chewed fibers from dead wood, resembling papier-mâché. Yellow jackets are very fond of meat and fruit. Their appetite and painful sting make them a serious nuisance to picknickers. In addition, yellow jackets can be quite aggressive if their nest is disturbed.