The social vespid wasps are common insect predators and several species behave in unison in the same biotopes. It is commonly accepted that social wasps are mainly opportunistic generalist predators without differences in prey selection and hence they compete for the same food resources. Trophic positions of six vespid wasp species and their potential prey from four sites in Finland and one in the UK were evaluated using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N). The difference in isotope values indicated different trophic positions among species. In general, Dolichovespula spp. showed higher δ¹⁵N values than Vespula spp., which suggests that Dolichovespula forage on higher trophic levels. Dolichovespula media (Retzius, 1783) showed the highest δ¹⁵N values, whereas Vespula vulgaris showed the lowest. Dolichovespula media partly expresses apex predator-like δ¹⁵N values, whereas Vespula species tend to forage on primary consumers. The largest species Vespa crabro (Linnaeus, 1758) showed also similar δ¹⁵N values as Vespula spp. However, δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of V. vulgaris workers varied slightly during the season. This study offers novel insights about the trophic segregation in the social wasp community, suggesting specialization in diet resource utilization, especially between Dolichovespula and Vespula.

社会性的黄蜂是常见的昆虫捕食者，并且在同一生物群落中几种物种一致地表现。人们普遍认为，社会黄蜂主要是机会主义的多面体捕食者，在猎物选择上没有差异，因此它们争夺相同的粮食资源。使用碳和氮稳定同位素（δ六个胡蜂黄蜂物种营养位置和它们从芬兰四个地点和一个在英国潜在的猎物进行评价¹³ C和δ ¹⁵ N）。同位素值的差异表明物种之间的营养位置不同。通常，Dolichovespula spp。显示出较高的δ ¹⁵的N值比Vespula属，这表明Dolichovespula在较高的营养水平上觅食。Dolichovespula媒体（Retzius，1783）显示出最高的δ ^15个N个值，而普通黄胡蜂显示出最低的。Dolichovespula媒体部分表示顶级掠食者般δ ¹⁵的N值，而Vespula物质趋于初级消费者草料。最大物种胡蜂crabro（林奈，1758）也显示出相似的δ ¹⁵的N值作为Vespula属。然而，δ ¹³ C和δ ¹⁵ N中的值V.寻常工人在季节中略有不同。这项研究提供了有关社会黄蜂群落营养隔离的新颖见解，表明其在饮食资源利用方面的专业化，尤其是在Dolichovespula和Vespula之间。