 Throughout the 1950s and 1960s , Polistes exclamans was extending its range , spreading into the midwestern United States . Between 1958 and 1967 the following states had new state records of Polistes exclamans : Illinois , Indiana , Kentucky , Maryland , Missouri , New Jersey , New Mexico , Tennessee , and Virginia . The behavioral basis behind range expansion could be based upon the exceptional capability Polistes exclamans has in the colonization of new sites and the solitary nest founding behavior Polistes exclamans exhibits . This capability could be assisted by the “ associated tendencies of P. exclamans foundresses to disperse and to move into newly available nesting sites . ” Meanwhile , species with social foundresses reproduce near the place of origin and , therefore , do not extend their range as far . 
