Foundresses of this species vary in the number and shape of black blotches on the yellow clypeus. Elizabeth Tibbetts and colleagues showed that wasps whose markings were altered with paint were treated differently by other wasps, and that individuals with more broken patterns were, on average, avoided by rivals in staged contests.
The interpretation offered was a status badge: a visual signal of fighting ability that lets wasps settle dominance without a costly fight. That reading has been contested. Replications in other populations found weaker or absent relationships between markings and dominance, and some work suggests the patterns matter more for individual recognition than for advertising quality.
The recognition finding is on firmer ground. A closely related species, Polistes fuscatus, learns and remembers individual faces, and wasps whose faces were experimentally modified were attacked more, consistent with rivals noticing a familiar identity had changed. What is genuinely uncertain is which of the two functions, badge or name tag, dominates in any particular population.