Wasps

If we were to ask about one of the insects that can sting us the most, without a doubt the answer would be to wasps. And it is that, this animal, is one of the flying insects that we have the most when spring and summer arrive. But a wasp actually lives all year, even though we don't see it.

If you want to know more details about this hymenoptera species, if you want to know what its characteristics are, how many wasp species there are in the world, what they eat, how they reproduce and much more, do not hesitate to take a look at what we have prepared for you about they.

Wasp Characteristics

There are so many wasp species that talking about their characteristics can be a bit difficult since each one has certain peculiarities that make it unique. But, all of them are characterized by having three well-differentiated parts: the head, the thorax (mesosoma) and the abdomen (metasoma). Its size can range from half a centimeter to four centimeters in length.

In the part of the head it is provided with eyes, also called ocelli, capable of distinguishing light and darkness. In addition, some of the species have teeth to bite. It also has antennae made of several segments.

It has two pairs of wings. On the one hand, two are quite large, while the other two are rather small. Both pairs are joined by a "frenulum", which are hooks that hold them together so that the flight is balanced. However, it should be noted that some female wasp species lack this element.

El Wasp color is usually black and yellow, although, throughout the different species, you can find a varied hue between blacks, browns, reds, oranges and yellows.

Finally, something that many fear is the sting of the wasp. This is only in the females.

Habitat

Wasps exist almost everywhere in the world, and they are known especially in sunny places, where they build their nests, in branches or tree trunks, in the corners of houses, riverbanks, holes...

Within the kingdom of wasps, there are two large, well-differentiated types: on the one hand, solitary wasps, which do not have a colony (although sometimes they do make nests, which are used to reproduce later); on the other hand, the social ones, which do live in colonies and belong to nests.

types of wasps

The wasp family includes more than 200.000 different species, not only wasps, but also bees, bumblebees and ants. In this case, Hymenoptera are divided into Symphyta and Apocrita.. And it is the Apocrita who frame the wasps, bees and ants.

Within them you will find aculeatas (insects that have a venomous stinger to sting) where many of the more familiar wasps are found; and parasitic (The larvae develop inside or on the surface of another animal).

Actually, the best known wasps are those with the scientific name Vespidae, but in reality these are just a large group and we could say that the taxonomy is the most adjusted to these insects. Within the family, we can find two subgroups: yellow jackets, with 23 different species; and scooters, with 24 species. Thus, there are almost 50 types of wasps that you are going to find (plus all those that we leave aside).

Among them, the best known wasps are the following:

• common wasp. It is the most common in Spain and Europe, characterized by being small (less than 2 centimeters), and by having a body with black and yellow stripes).
• Asian wasp. It is one of the most dangerous, hence the nickname "killer wasp", which feeds on other insects and does not hesitate to attack.
• germanic vest. It is found mostly in Africa, Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand and some parts of Asia. Not only is it capable of stinging (with a very toxic venom), but it can also bite and leave a good mark.

Wasp feeding

La Wasp feeding depends on two factors: that she is an adult, or that she is not. When a wasp is an adult, it feeds mainly on the nectar of flowers, although it also usually eats ripe and sweet fruits. However, when it is still a larva, its diet is more varied, since it is an omnivorous animal, feeding on other insects, alive or dead.

This does not mean that the adult specimens do not hunt other animals, the truth is that they do so from the moment they have young, because they are in charge of providing food for the larvae so that they can develop. For this reason, it is normal that you can see some wasps taking other animals to the colony to feed (or bringing food closer to the larvae they have).

wasp reproduction

As we have mentioned before, there are two groups of wasps, social and solitary. And in the case of reproduction, it occurs very differently between them.

Something striking about wasps is that they are able to control the sex of their offspring, since, if what they want to be born are males, they lay unfertilized eggs; unlike if what they want are females.

Social wasps: their reproduction

In social wasps, that is, those that live in a colony and in a nest, reproduction only takes place for the queen. The rest are infertile, which means that they will not have offspring.

Only the queen can create more life, and that is why she is fertilized by one or several males. The sperm is stored by this wasp in a bag inside, and that is why it can have several thousand eggs with just one mating.

Now, in September is when fertile males and females are born, and the objective is for them to mate and become fertilized, since they will really be the offspring of the queen wasp, and the ones that will survive the winter to, in spring, create their own. nest.

Solitary Wasps and the Reproduction Stage

In the case of solitary wasps, they can also mate with other specimens and become fertilized, even without being queen wasps.

They will lay an egg in each cell of the nest, which will be filled with food, then sealing it. So there will be no relationship between parents and children. When that wasp comes out, it will be an adult and will be able to build its own nest in the future to continue reproducing.