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 (δ
13
C and δ
15
N). The difference in isotope values indicated different trophic positions among species. In general,
Dolichovespula
spp. showed higher δ
15
N values than
Vespula
spp., which suggests that
Dolichovespula
forage on higher trophic levels.
Dolichovespula media
(Retzius, 1783) showed the highest δ
15
N values, whereas
Vespula vulgaris
showed the lowest.
Dolichovespula media
partly expresses apex predator-like δ
15
N values, whereas
Vespula
species tend to forage on primary consumers. The largest species
Vespa crabro
(Linnaeus, 1758) showed also similar δ
15
N values as
Vespula
spp. However, δ
13
C and δ
15
N 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
.