She remains in the nest and the workers forage for food and wood, feed the young and enlarge, repair and defend the nest. Wasps Polistes wasps commonly have been called paper or paper-making wasps. This name is not appropriate since yellow jackets and hornets also construct nests of paperlike material. The nest consists of a single comb with no paper envelope around it. Mated females over winter in sheltered areas.
All females are potential queens -there is no worker caste.
Which one actually becomes the queen, or nest initiator, seems to depend on which one begins laying eggs and building cells first. The other females take the subservient role of foraging for food and feeding the young. It seems a contest is begun with females laying eggs and eating the eggs of the other, replacing eaten eggs with those of her own. The one which out-eats the others become the dominant female. Nests are often built under the eaves of homes and while these wasps are not particularly aggressive, their proximity to living areas threaten many people.