Wasp feeding on fruit. Macrophotograph of an adult female worker wasp Polistes sp. eating the flesh of fruit. This wasp will only enjoy fruit towards the end of her life, late in the season, when the social job of rearing other wasps in the nest has ended. Polistes sp. typically feeds on insects, fresh or rotting meat, even fish. The meat is also fed to developing wasp larvae as a high protein diet. When autumn approaches and new queens mate and prepare to hibernate over winter, the workers gradually succumb to the colder weather. It is at this time that they take to their short life of pleasure, eating fruit and sipping sweet drinks.