Morphological and molecular-based comparisons of the North American yellowjackets identified as Vespula vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758) with samples from other parts of the world demonstrate they are not that species. The name Vespula alascensis (Packard, 1870) is applicable to the North American species, new status. Vespa communis de Saussure, 1857, non von Schrank, 1785, is a synonym of Vespula maculifrons (du Buysson, 1905), REVISED SYNONYMY.