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 A German wasp
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| Vespula germanica (Fabricius, 1793) |
The German wasp, or European wasp, Vespula germanica, is a wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, native to Europe, northern Africa, and temperate Asia. Johan Christian Fabricius ( January 7, 1745 - March 3, 1808) was a Danish Entomologist and economist A wasp is any Insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a Bee nor Ant. Northern Hemisphere is the half of a Planet that is North of the Equator —the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan It has been introduced and is well-established in many other places, including North America, Australia and New Zealand. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island German wasps are part of the family Vespidae and are sometimes mistakenly referred to as paper wasps because they build a grey paper nest — although, strictly speaking, paper wasps are part of the subfamily Polistinae. The Vespidae are a large (nearly 5000 species diverse cosmopolitan family of Wasps including nearly all the known Eusocial wasps and many Solitary Paper wasps are 3/4 Inch to 1 inch (2-25 cm)-long Wasps that gather Fibers from dead wood and plant stems which they mix with Saliva The Polistinae are Eusocial Wasps closely related to the more familiar Yellowjackets but placed in their own subfamily containing four tribes It is more commonly known in North America as a yellowjacket. Yellowjacket or yellow-jacket is the Common name in North America for predatory Wasps of the genera Vespula and
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Identification
The German wasp is about ½ inch (13 mm) long, and has typical wasp colours of black and yellow. Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. The Millimetre ( American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to It is very similar to the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris), but seen head on, its face has three tiny black dots. The common wasp, Vespula vulgaris, is a Wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, and introduced to Australia and New German wasps also have black dots on their abdomen, while the common wasp's analogous markings are fused with the black rings above them, forming a different pattern.
Nests
The nest is made from chewed plant fibres, mixed with saliva. For the band see Saliva (band; for the village in Azerbaijan see Səliva. They are generally found close to or in the ground, rather than higher up on bushes and trees like hornets. Hornets are the largest eusocial Wasps that reach up to 45 Millimetres (1 It has open cells and a petiole attaching the nest to the substrate. The wasps produce a chemical which repels ants, and secrete it around the base of this petiole in order to avoid ant predation. Ants are social Insects of the family Formicidae and along with the related families of Wasps and Bees belong to the order
A solitary female queen starts the nest, building 20–30 cells before initial egg-laying. Eusociality ( Greek eu: "good" + "social" is a term used for the highest level of social organization in a hierarchical classification This phase begins in spring, depending on climatic conditions. She fashions a petiole and produces a single cell at the end of it. Six further cells are then added around this to produce the characteristic hexagonal shape of the nest cells.
Once the larvae have hatched as workers, they take up most of the colony’s foraging, brood care and nest maintenance. A larva ( Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile form of Animal with indirect development, undergoing Metamorphosis (for example Eusociality ( Greek eu: "good" + "social" is a term used for the highest level of social organization in a hierarchical classification A finished nest may be 20–30 cm across and contain 3,000 individuals. A centimetre ( American spelling: centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one hundredth
Each wasp colony includes one queen and a number of sterile workers. In Biology, a colony (from Latin colonia) refers to several individual Organisms of the same Species living closely together usually Colonies usually last only one year, all but the queen dying at the onset of winter. However, in mild climates such as New Zealand, around 10% of the colonies survive the winter. New queens and males (drones) are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queen overwinters in a crack or other sheltered location.
This common and widespread wasp collects insects including caterpillars to feed to its larvae, and is therefore generally beneficial. Insects ( Class Insecta) are a major group of Arthropods and the most diverse group of Animals on the Earth with over a million described Caterpillars are the Larval form of a member of the order Lepidoptera (the Insect order comprising butterflies and Moths The adults feed on nectar and sweet fruit, and are also attracted to human food and food waste, particularly sodas and meats. Nectar is a Sugar -rich liquid produced by plants It is produced either by the Flowers in which it attracts pollinating animals or by extrafloral
The nests are subject to predation by the Honey Buzzard, which excavates them to obtain the larva. The Honey Buzzard ( Pernis apivorus) sometimes known as the "pern" is a Bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which also includes many other The hoverfly Volucella pellucens and some of its relatives lay their eggs in the wasp's nest, and the larva feeds on the wasp's young. Flies in the Diptera family Syrphidae are commonly known as hoverflies, flower flies, or Syrphid flies. Volucella pellucens is a hover-fly. It occurs in much of Europe, and across Asia to Japan.
Pest status
Along with the closely related common wasp (pictured right) and two species of Polistes, the German wasp is considered to be a pest in New Zealand. The common wasp, Vespula vulgaris, is a Wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, and introduced to Australia and New Wasps of the cosmopolitan genus Polistes (the only genus in the tribe Polistini) are the most familiar of the polistine wasps and are the most common A pest is an organism which has characteristics that are regarded by Humans as injurious or unwanted It was probably introduced in the late 19th century, but did not appear in large numbers until around 1940. [1] It is common in the beech forest since it is one of the two wasps that feeds on the honeydew exuded by the native beech scale insect which lives in the bark of the trees. Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of about 35 Species of Trees and shrubs native to the temperate oceanic Honeydew is a Sugar -rich sticky substance secreted by Aphids and some Scale insects as they feed on Plant sap. It has a serious effect on the forest ecology since there is less honeydew available for the native birds. Ecology (from Greek grc οἶκος oikos, "house(hold" and grc -λογία -logia) is the scientific study of
In domestic situations nests have been known to become very large, sometimes taking up entire attic spaces in houses. This is put down to the comparatively mild winters experienced in New Zealand, as opposed to the wasp's usual European habitat.
Watching wasps return to their home at dusk is one method recommended to locate nests.
Further reading
- R. J. Harris, C. D. Thomas & H. Moller (1991). The influence of habitat use and foraging on the replacement of one introduced wasp species by another in New Zealand. Ecological Entomology 16 (4): 441–448. doi:. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.
References
- ^ Pest Animal Control Bay of Plenty environment report. History According to local Māori traditions, the Bay of Plenty was the landing point of several migration canoes that brought Māori settlers to New Zealand Retrieved 7 January 2007
External links
- Ohio State University Yellowjacket fact sheet
- Harvard University fact sheet on yellowjackets
- Differences between Yellowjackets and Hornets
- Stunning photographs of Yellowjackets (and other insects) in flight
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