Top 11 Essential Facts You Should Know About Wasps

Wasps are divided into two main groups: social and solitary. The social wasps make up around a thousand species, including nest-building types like the yellow hornet.

The queen survives the winter by hibernating in a warm spot, carefully guarded by worker wasps. In spring, she mates and begins the reproductive cycle. The workers' first task is to build a small nest that fits the queen's size and reproductive needs. As food and population levels rise, the nest is expanded with more hexagonal cells, allowing the queen to continue reproducing. By late summer, a colony may have over 5,000 members, including the queen and the workers that survive the winter.

These wasps are crucial for restarting the cycle in the following spring.

Solitary wasps, unlike colony-dwelling types, do not live in large groups. This group includes the largest wasps, such as the orange-winged spider wasp, which can reach up to 3.3 cm in length. While colony wasps use their stingers mainly for defense, solitary wasps use theirs to hunt prey.

Most animals fear and avoid the aggressive wasp. However, any creature that accidentally comes into contact with a wasp nest or dares to disturb a colony will face severe consequences.

When a worker wasp senses danger, it releases a pheromone to alert others in the colony, causing them to converge and attack the threat. Unlike typical bees, solitary wasps can sting repeatedly, injecting venom into their prey. Notably, only female wasps have stingers.

The venom of this species can be nearly 7mm long and contains highly toxic substances capable of breaking down human tissue. It can even penetrate most protective clothing. In Japan, statistics show that every year, up to 50 people die from attacks by giant hornets.

Additionally, research published in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* reveals that wasp venom is being studied for its potential to create proteins that treat bacterial infections. These proteins enhance the ability to kill bacterial cells, reducing the harmful effects on human cells. In experiments on mice, proteins derived from wasp venom showed significant protection against deadly bacterial infections.

During the breeding season (from September to October), wasps often migrate in swarms to establish new nests. This is when they are at their most aggressive, attacking anything that comes near their nest.

Within a colony, the queen is the only one capable of mating and reproducing. She mates with strong male wasps to ensure the survival of her lineage. The male wasps' role is to mate with the queen and then die, while worker wasps are responsible for foraging and building the nest. Wasps typically reproduce in the spring, and some species lay their eggs inside the bodies of victims they have killed earlier.

As social creatures, wasps often build nests that can house thousands of individuals. These nests are typically constructed in places like shrubbery, high tree branches, house eaves, balconies, or even underground.

You may find a wasp nest almost anywhere. Additionally, some wasp species are parasitic and create nests on the bodies of other animals.

Wasps are categorized into many species worldwide. Below are three of the most common wasp species today that Mytour would like to introduce.

Garuda Wasp: The Garuda wasp is a well-known species found in the Mekongga mountain range, located in the Sulawesi Peninsula of Indonesia. The name 'Garuda' is inspired by a national symbol of Indonesia. This is one of the largest wasp species, measuring up to 3.3 cm in length. It has large, strong mandibles for self-defense.

Asian Giant Hornet: This insect is primarily found in the tropical regions of East Asia. With an average length of nearly 5 cm, wingspan close to 8 cm, and flying speed of 40 km/h, it holds the title of the largest wasp species in the world. Its venom can target the nervous system, posing a severe threat to human life.

Parasitic Wasp: This species typically attacks black widow spiders, paralyzing them before laying eggs in their bodies. The larvae feed on the spider's flesh while living parasitically in the spider's abdomen. After about 35 days, the larvae molt and emerge. While the sting of this wasp is painful, its venom is rarely fatal to humans.

Despite the challenges they pose, wasps are actually quite beneficial to humans. Nearly every insect on Earth could be prey for a wasp.

Wasps use these insects as food or hosts for their parasitic larvae. In addition, wasps, including hornets, are skilled at controlling pest populations, which is why agriculture often utilizes them to protect crops.

They play an important role in controlling insect-borne diseases and safeguarding crops. Wasps are also the primary natural enemies of the most common venomous spiders in Australia.

Science has repeatedly shown that wasps (scientific name: Vespula vulgaris) don't actually know how to communicate in the traditional sense, but they manage to collaborate and maintain a complex, enduring nest across generations.

In a recent study, biologist Istvan Karsai from East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, and colleagues revealed that these wasps base their tasks on the amount of water present in the nest.

The research team noted that in most social insect species, like bees, ants, and termites, each individual has some form of connection with others in the colony, often to relay information about food sources, alert to threats, or warn of disturbances, typically using elaborate dances or pheromones.

However, wasps, being less intelligent, can't communicate in these ways. Instead, they change their behavior by monitoring the water content in the nest. To gauge this, they exchange liquids by touching other nest members, a form of indirect communication.

Here are some interesting facts about wasps that you may not have known:

• Yellow jackets, or 'taxi wasps', often feed on the sweet substances secreted by young wasp nests.
• Polistes fuscatus wasps can actually recognize the faces of other wasp species.
• The Vespa scooter is named after the wasp – 'vespa' is the Italian word for 'wasp'.
• Wasps have a narrower waist compared to most other species of bees.

Wasps are known by several other names such as hornets and yellowjackets. They are predominantly found in Asia, Europe, and Northern Asia. Due to their aggressive and territorial nature, they are sometimes referred to as 'killer wasps' or 'genocidal wasps'. In North America and other regions where they are native, wasps are considered an invasive species due to their destructive tendencies.

There are more than 20 species of wasps in the Vespa and Provespa genera, all belonging to the Vespidae family, originally from Asia. Wasps are opportunistic feeders and consume a wide variety of insects, including honeybees, grasshoppers, dragonflies, spiders, and crickets. They also feed on fruit juices, nectar, and tree sap.

Wasps typically hunt alone, but only female wasps have stingers to defend themselves. When threatened, they release pheromones to alert other wasps in the colony, calling them to attack the intruder.

Wasps are among the most abundant and diverse species, found all over the world. They come in a variety of colors, with brown, black, and yellow being the most common, though they can also exhibit mixed color patterns.

One distinct feature of wasps is their membranous wings and narrow waist that connects their abdomen to the thorax. Their body is segmented, with a clear distinction between the head, thorax, and abdomen. Wasps have three sturdy pairs of legs, enabling them to cling firmly to tree trunks or when hunting prey. Their body shape is unique, with a slender, pointed abdomen that tapers off towards the end, making them easy to identify.

The average size of a wasp ranges from 2 to 5.5 cm, with the largest being the Asian giant hornet.

Wasps are easily distinguished from other bee species by their sharp, tapered abdomen and narrow "waist," often referred to as the "petiole." This segment clearly separates their abdomen from the thorax.

They come in a wide range of colors, from the familiar yellow to brown, metallic green, and bright red. Among them, Vespula germanica (the German wasp) stands out as the brightest in the wasp family.

All wasps build nests, but unlike bees, which secrete wax for hive construction, wasps chew wood fibers with their mandibles and mix them with saliva to create a unique substance, which they use to construct sturdy and durable nests.