WASP BIOLOGY

Wasp Biology

The term "wasp" has little taxonomic meaning, as it applies to many different kinds of insects. Nearly all the social wasps are in the family Vespidae, whose members are easily identified by their habit of folding their wings lengthwise (a family of closely related wasps, the Eumenidae, shares this habit). Most Vespids are black with yellow or white markings, which clearly mark them as potent stingers. As meat-eaters, they fill either carnivorous or carrion-feeding niches. Social wasps are ecologically important, removing large numbers of plant-eating insects from their ecological communities.

Picture of folded wings on wasp

The wasps we commonly call "paper wasps" are the primitively eusocial. Their colonies tend to be small, consistenting of a queen and up to 100 or so workers. Their open nests, a comb of paper-like material, are potentially vulnerable to predation by birds and rodents, and much of these wasps' evolution has been shaped by the need to avoid predation.

Yellowjackets (genus Dolichovespula), hornets (genus Vespa), and a large group of tropical wasps called the epinoninae constittute the. highly eusocial wasps. These diverse wasp species are unified by their construction of nests with a protective outer covering, or envelope. In the temperate zone yellowjackets and hornets are by far the most dangerous social insects. Their large colony sizes in late summer allow them defend their nest aggressively; they may fly out several yards from their nest and sting passersby. Most stinging incidents that are blamed on honey bees are actually due to common yellowjackets. Their aggression deters would-be predators, such as birds, raccoons and skunks.

Reproduction