Distribution: Russia: Southern Siberia, Yakutia, Amur Region, Primorye (Kurzenko, 1995; Dubatolov, 1998), ?Sakhalin (Matsumura, 1930), Southern Kuriles: Iturup (Matsumura, 1926; Kuwayama, 1967). Mongolia (Sk.Yamane, S.Yamane, 1987), NE China, Korea (Kurzenko, 1995), Japan: Hokkaido, N Honshu (SkYamane, S.Yamane, 1987; Kojima, Hagiwara, 1998).

Localities from collection of SZMN: Russia: Ekaterinburg Province: Lake Shchelkun (Sysert' District); Kurgan Province; Tomsk Province: Ust'-Churul'ka (Kargasok district); Novosibirsk province: Korolevka (Kolyvan district), Ordynskoe; Altaiskii Krai: Soldatovo (Petropavlovskoe district); Altai Republic: 20 km S from Paspaul; Kemerovo Province: Novokuznetsk district, Kuzedeevo (Gornaya Shoriya); Khakasia: Birikchul', Abaza; Tuva: M. Achin, Sosnovka (Bai-Khaak district), Shurmak and Irbitei (Samagaltai district); Irkutsk Province: Ust'-Ordynskoe; Chita Province: Chita, Nizhnii Tsasuchei on the Onon river, 65-70 km NE from Nerchinskii Zavod, Kungara on river Gazimur, 5-7 km NE of village Budyumkan, Uryupino,10 km S of Uryupino; Yakutia: river Dzherba (2 km low from the river Kyuyol'-Ergielakh mouth); Amur Province: Blagoveshchensk, 6-10 km N from Belogor'e, Malaya Sazanka (17 km SSW from Svobodnyi), Svobodnyi, Zeya Nature Reserve, Nature Reserve Khinganskii (Kurzenko, 1982); Jewish Province: Obluch'e, between Obluch'e and Khingansk, Nature Reserve Bastak; Khabarovsk Province: Chegdomyn, Khabarovsk vic., Komsomolsk-na-Amure, Kiselevka, Arkhangelskoe (Amur river mouth); Primorskii Krai: 20 km N from Chernyshevka, Gusevskii Mine (7 km NE from Zanadvorovka), Nature Reserve Kedrovaya Pad'; Sakhalin: locality not stated, 11.VIII 1932, Inukai leg. (Sk.Yamane, S.Yamane, 1987), Voskresenovka on river Tym', river Tym' in 40 km E from Zonal'noe, 10 km E from Boshnyakovo, 20 km W from Smirnykh (Kurzenko, 2004); Southern Kuril Is.: Iturup (Matsumura, 1926; Kuwayama, 1967). Kazakhstan: Topikha (30 km NE from Ust'-Kamenogorsk). Mongolia: Bulgan aimak: 23 km NNO von Chischig-Öndör (Sk.Yamane, S.Yamane, 1987); China: Nei Monggol Province: "Hilar" (Hailar?) (Sk.Yamane, S.Yamane, 1987); Japan: Hokkaido: Abashiri district: Kitami; Kamikawa district: Daisetsu-zan; Kushiro district: Akan (Sk.Yamane, S.Yamane, 1987), Chimikeppu (about 25 km NNE of Lake Akan) (Kojima, Hagiwara, 1998)); Tokachi district: Mt. Togachi-dake, Obihiro; Ishikari district: Sapporo (Sk.Yamane, S.Yamane, 1987); Honshu: Akita Pref.: Tazawa-ko (Sk.Yamane, S.Yamane, 1987).

Notes: 1. the species was recorded also from Buryatia, Sakhalin and Southern Kuriles (Kurzenko, 1995). 2. Record from Yakutia (Kurzenko, 1995) might belongs to the Yakutsk vicinity. 3. It was cited from Sakhalin as Polistes gallicus (Matsumura, 1930), from Iturup Is. (Southern Kuriles) as P. chinensis F. by S.Matsumura (1926) and as P. biglumis L. by S.Kuwayama (1967).

Taxa described from Asian Russia and adjacent territories:
Polistes riparius Sk.Yamane et Sô.Yamane, 1987, Kontyu 55: 215 - "Sapporo, Hokkaido".

References
Dubatolov, V.V. 1998. Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Polistinae, Vespinae) of Siberia in the collection of Siberian Zoological Museum. - Far Eastern Entomologist 57: 1-11.
Dubatolov, V.V. 2011. Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Polistinae, Vespinae) of the Bastak Nature Reserve (Jewish Autonomous Province, Amur basin). - Amurian Zoological Journal 3(1).
Dubatolov, V.V., Dolgikh A.M. 2009. Social wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae: Polistinae, Vespinae) of the Bolshekhekhtsyrskii nature reserve (the Khabarovsk suburbs), with notes on their distribution in the Lower Amur. - Amurian zoological journal 1(1): 76-82.
Kojima, J., Hagiwara, Y. 1998. Lectotype designation of four species and one form of the paper wasp genus Polistes Latreille, 1802, described from Japan, with notes on the scientific names of Japanese Polistes (Insecta: Hymenoptera; Vespidae, Polistinae). - Natural History Bulletin of Ibaraki University 2: 247-262.
Kurzenko, N.V. 1992. [Fam. Vespidae]. In: [Insects of the Nature Reserve Khinganskii]. Part 2. Dal'nauka, Vladivostok: 251-254. (In Russian).
Kurzenko, N.V. 1995. [Fam. Vespidae]. In: [A key to insects from the Far East of Russia]. Vol. 4. Neuropteroidea, Mecoptera, Hymenoptera. Part 1. - St-Petersburg: 264-324. (In Russian).
Kurzenko, N.V. 2004. [Vespid and Sapygid wasps fauna (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Sapygidae) of Sakhalin Island]. In: [Flora and fauna of Sakhalin Island (Materials of International Sakhalin Island Project)]. Part 1. Dal'nauka, Vladivostok: 193-208. (In Russian).
Kuwayama, S. 1967. Insect fauna of the Southern Kurile Islands. Sapporo: 1-225 p., 1-4 pl., map.
Malikova, E.I., Kirillova, K., Streltzov, A.N. 2006. [Data on social wasps (Vespidae) and bees (Apidae) from Bastak Nature Reserve]. - Priroda zapovednika “Bastak” [Nature of Bastak Nature Reserve]. Blagoveshchensk 3: 118-120. (In Russian).
Matsumura, S. 1926. Journ. Coll. Agr. Hokkaido Imp. Univ. 18: 42.
Matsumura, S. 1930. The Illustrated Thousand Insects of Japan, II (Hymenoptera). Tôkô-shoin, Tokyo. (In Japanese).
Yamane, Sk. & Yamane, S. 1987. A new species and new synonymy in the subgenus Polistes of Eastern Asia (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). - Kontyû 55 (2): 215-219.