Fylling's Illustrated Guide to Nature in Your Neighborhood by Marni Fylling

Author:Marni Fylling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Heyday

— Wasps —

Wasps are one of the most despised and least understood groups of insects. Often confused with bees, wasps do not collect pollen or make honey, though they do sip nectar. And when a wasp visits flowers, its smoother, often shiny body doesn’t transfer as much pollen as that of a fuzzy bee. Most of the tens of thousands of wasp species found worldwide are solitary. Some build nests in burrows or construct them out of mud; many are parasitoids: they lay their eggs on or inside host insects—which the larvae feed on and eventually kill. Sounds gruesome, but many of these wasps are considered beneficial, as their hosts are agricultural pests; in fact, parasitoid wasps are often released intentionally as natural pest management.

The infamous yellowjackets, hornets, and paper wasps are social members of the wasp family. A social wasp can and will employ its impressive stinger multiple times. Unlike a bee, which only stings defensively, a wasp requires its large stinger for subduing and paralyzing prey, as well as for defense. Social wasps prey heavily on insects and, like the parasitoid wasps, are beneficial in the garden, keeping caterpillars, flies, mosquitoes, and other insect populations in check. If they are not in a highly trafficked area, consider allowing these valuable insects to remain—their nest is usually used for only one year.

While adult social wasps eat only sugary beverages like nectar, juice from rotting fruit, honeydew, and tree sap, their larvae need protein to grow and develop. So the adults capture caterpillars and other insects, which they chew up and feed to the young. The larvae, in turn, exude droplets of a sweet fluid that provides the adults with essential proteins and encourages them to collect more insect meals. As summer draws on, the colony grows larger, and flowers and insect prey become harder to find. This is when paper wasps and yellowjackets will show up at your picnic: your soda (unless it’s diet) is a lovely substitute for flower nectar, and larvae are happy with bits of your burger or steak instead of insects. Open garbage cans are attractive for the same reasons—as are the flies that the garbage attracts!

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