Wasp Identification & Biology: A Comprehensive Overview

Wasp

Introduction to Wasp

Wasp, a stinging insect related to bees and ants. There are some 20,000 species of wasps. The wasp's stinger, like that of the bee, is a modified ovipositor, or egg depositor. It is absent in the males. Unlike the bee's stinger, the wasp's is not barbed, and is not torn out of the wasp's body when it is used.

Hornets are large social wasps.

Unlike bees, wasps do not have pollen baskets on their hind legs. Many species of wasps have "wasp waists," waists much more slender than those of bees. Otherwise, the bodies of bees and wasps are quite similar. Wasps range in length from less than 1/100 of an inch (0.25 mm) to 3 inches (7.5 cm), depending on the species. Although wasps do not commonly collect nectar or pollen, they do drink nectar and in going from plant to plant to obtain nectar they spread pollen. Few wasps make honey.

Some wasps inflict painful stings if disturbed. Many species are pests, injuring ripe fruits or killing useful insects and spiders. On the whole, however, wasps do much more good than harm by killing insect pests and by pollinating crops and wild plants. Figs are almost wholly dependent on a species of wasp for pollination.

Wasps lay their eggs in cells, which are typically six-sided compartments made of mud or "paper" (chewed wood or cardboard) and joined together to form nests. The cells of some species are holes dug in the ground or bored into wood.

The Social Wasps

Social wasps (yellow jackets, hornets, and paper wasps) live in colonies. A colony of yellow jackets or hornets is begun by a single fertilized female. A colony of paper wasps is typically begun by several fertilized females.

Yellow Jackets and Hornets

A fertilized female yellow jacket or hornet begins a colony by making a few cells and laying an egg in each. Larvae hatch from the eggs in about a week and are fed by the queen for about two weeks. Each larva then spins a cocoon around itself, becoming a pupa. In about 10 days, adult workers emerge from the cocoons. The workers are sterile females that care for additional eggs laid by the queen, feed the larvae, and maintain and defend the nest. The larvae are fed chewed-up insects and spiders. Adults feed on nectar, honey-dew, and fruit.

A female yellow jacket begins a colony by making a few cells and laying an egg in each.

Eggs, larvae, and workers are produced throughout the spring and summer in temperate areas. At the end of summer, males develop from unfertilized eggs, and fertile females develop from larvae fed more food than earlier larvae were fed. After mating, the females hibernate in soil, leaf litter, or protected crevices. They are the only members of the colony to survive the winter; in the following spring, they establish new colonies. In tropical areas, nesting continues throughout the year.

Nests of yellow jackets and hornets are rounded paper structures containing several layers of cells. Yellow jackets usually build their nests in holes in the ground. Most hornets build their nests aboveground. The bald-faced, or white-faced, hornet commonly suspends its nest from a tree branch or under a bridge. The giant, or brown, hornet builds its nest in a hollow tree or in some other sheltered place.

What Is on a Yellow Jacket’s Menu?

A yellow jacket—a type of small wasp with black and yellow markings—usually feeds on nectar and fruits. And, like paper wasps, yellow jackets chew meats and feed the paste to their larvae. Yellow jackets also engage in mutual feeding. When they feed the larvae, the larvae produce a drop of saliva for the adult wasps to eat.

Some species of yellow jackets feed on dead animal matter. These wasps are often uninvited guests at picnics. They have come to feed on the sweet fruit and soda and the sandwich meat.

Yellow jackets belong to the same family of wasps as hornets. Both kinds of wasps build paper nests. Most yellow jackets nest underground or in places like hollow walls. Most hornet nests hang in bushes or trees. Both kinds of wasps are very protective of their nests. If anyone disturbs the nest, worker wasps will sting over and over again!

Paper Wasps

Of the several fertilized female paper wasps that start a colony, one will become the dominant queen, the female that lays all or most of the colony's eggs. The dominant queen sometimes destroys eggs laid by the other females. Larvae are raised much like those of yellow jackets and hornets. The nest of paper wasps is typically a single disc-shaped layer of cells that are open at the bottom. The nest is suspended by a short paper stem under an eave or in some other sheltered area.

Where Do Paper Wasps Live?

Paper wasps live in paper nests, of course! These slender, reddish-brown social insects are incredible architects. Their nests usually hang from a tree or a porch. The openings face downward to keep out the rain.

Paper wasps make their own building materials. Female wasps chew up plant parts or old wood. They mix this with saliva to make thin paperlike layers. The wasps then paste the paper together to make the open cells of the nest. The wasps lay their eggs in these cells.

Paper wasps capture caterpillars and other insects. They chew up the meat of these animals to make food paste that they feed to their young larvae. Adult wasps feed themselves flower nectar.

The Solitary Wasps

The great majority of wasps are solitary wasps; they live alone. All the females are fertile. A typical female solitary wasp lays her eggs in, on, or next to an insect or spider that she has paralyzed with her venom and placed in her nest. In most species, the nest is either a small structure the female constructs from mud, or a hole the female digs in the ground. Some solitary wasps lay their eggs in the leaves or stems of plants. As a larva develops, it uses the insect, spider, or plant for food. The females of some species guard their nests; those of others abandon them. Males, depending on the species, survive for the summer or die soon after mating. Many solitary wasps survive winter as pupae.

There are many different kinds of solitary wasps. Digger wasps and sand wasps dig underground nests; some of these wasps bring captured prey to their larvae. Potter, or mason, wasps make nests consisting of roundish chambers of mud, usually attached to twigs. Mud daubers make nests consisting of joined tubular cells of mud, usually under eaves. Gall wasps lay their eggs in plant tissue. Ichneumon flies are wasps that lay their eggs in or on larvae of other insects. Velvet ants (wasps that look like hairy ants) and cuckoo wasps lay their eggs in the nests of other wasps or of bees.

Ichneumon wasps are parasitic insects with long, stalk-like abdomens.

Wasps belong to the order Hymenoptera. Yellow jackets, hornets, and paper wasps belong to the family Vespidae. Some biologists also place potter wasps in the family Vespidae; others, in the family Eumenidae. Digger wasps, sand wasps, and mud daubers belong to the family Sphecidae; gall wasps to the family Cynipidae; ichneumon flies to the family Ichneumonidae; velvet ants to the family Mutillidae; cuckoo wasps to the family Chrysididae.