Os was seen by every person in his life. Other representatives of these insects live apart from people, preferring not to encounter them. Such wasps inflict habits and rarely become aggressive.
Origin of the species
Insects have no particular scientific definition. Wasps include all stinging stalked bellies, belonging to the order Hymenoptera. These insects are not classified as ants or bees.
At the moment, a great variety of species of wasps is noted. These include: road, glitter, as well as chipped, paper, hornets and so on. All varieties are conditionally divided into:
- Single insects.
- Public insects.
Interesting fact: bees are able to defend themselves only with a sting, while wasps additionally use a powerful jaw apparatus. During danger, wasps bite quite painfully.
Description
Single wasps live apart. Weirdly build nests of strange shapes. All adult insects can breed. Nests are built in nooks: in the spaces between the walls, under the roofs, in the soil. Only some species live without building nests. Such wasps live in naturally created wood holes.
Social species live in large families. The uterus builds a nest, and not every adult insect can reproduce. In some cases, several thousand individuals live in such colonies, and only the uterus can multiply. Infertile wasps are ranked as workers, while prolific ones are called uterus.
Interesting fact: the majority of Hymenoptera is able to change their lifestyle from solitary to public. This process is carried out in several stages.
Appearance
Wasps are extremely bright insects that attract the eye. They have a characteristic color - black and yellow transverse stripes. Adult insects grow up to 10 cm. Some females grow up to 18 cm. Small hairs are located on the body of the animal. The body ends with a sharp sting. The sting is short, smooth, which allows it to easily pierce the body of the enemy. Victims are able to move, so wasps sting in any position.
Insects have complex eyes. They are quite large compared to the body, distinguish objects within a radius of 180 degrees. Three extra eyes are on the top of the head. However, they are almost invisible to the naked eye. Antenna whiskers are placed near small eyes. Their purpose varies depending on the occupation of the insect and on certain situations. Basically, wasps are guided by these antennae during flights. They serve as a guide for determining the direction of the wind, the size of the cracks and so on.
Interesting fact: Since the wasps have a smooth sting, they do not injure themselves when attacking.
Features
The name insects is collective for many species. The external characteristics of many varieties of wasps are significantly different. The most common are:
Paper wasps. The most familiar to people. They live near a person, a standard black and yellow color. Glittery. Wasps of medium size, growing up to 8 cm. Also standard color. Floral. These insects are extremely small. Do not grow larger than a centimeter. The color is standard with a predominance of yellow. Germans. Insects with a specific color. The color of their torso is bright orange. Such wasps are immediately evident. Black and orange males with black wings. Females are wingless, for which they received the nickname of velvet ants.
Habitat - where wasps live?
Animals can be found all over the planet. These insects spread over all continents. They are in all countries of the CIS, Europe, Africa, Asia and America. Insects can not be found only in the vast Sahara, in the Arctic, as well as in the Arabian Peninsula. Insects love to settle in a temperate climate.Hot and frosty regions do not allow wasps to exist.
Interesting fact: in the PRC and Japan there is an extremely dangerous species of these insects. Asian hornets grow to 6 cm and can kill an adult with one bite. They are especially dangerous for allergy sufferers. Each year in these countries, up to 50 people die after the sting of this hornet.
Most of the insects are found in the northern hemisphere of the planet. Some are found in Brazil. Insects choose housing based on criteria: the presence of plants to hide, people and temperate climate. Being around people allows wasps to get food faster. You can live on trees, and build nests out of wood. Some varieties rebuild nests from clay or small stones. Outwardly, such houses look like small castles.
How long does a wasp live?
The most long-lived individual of the whole family is the uterus. It is she who can breed. The wasp uterus lives for about 10 months. The remaining individuals do not live long - no more than seven weeks.
What is the difference between a bee and a wasp?
The wasp sting has too small notches, so it seems completely smooth. For this reason, wasps do not injure themselves when stinging enemies. Also at the end of the sting there is no nodule, like bees. Thus, wasps do not leave their sting in the body of the enemy, but can strike several more times.
What eats
Wasps have a diverse diet, depending on several factors: the type of insect, at what stage of development it is and where it lives. People think that wasps do not care what to eat, but in reality this is not so. Insects feed on meat, fish, berries or sweets. However, these products do not constitute the main diet of insects.
Wasps love soft but liquid foods. They eat the pulp of fruits, drink the juice of plants, eat berries and drink flower nectar. If possible, wasps can eat human food. Insects seek food due to their developed sense of smell. They can easily detect slightly rotten or fermented fruits. Animals also like beer or kvass. Some of the food of the wasp is attributed to the larvae or uterus. Such work lies on the shoulders of working individuals.
Predator wasps feed differently. They rarely drink nectar, and most of the time they hunt other insects. They can even kill small spiders. They feed the larvae with insects. Previously, a predatory wasp hunts down a potential prey, after which it throws itself at it with a sting, paralyzing it. The poison allows you to keep the victim fresh.
Features of character and lifestyle
Belonging to an animal greatly changes its lifestyle. Single wasps live monotonously, actively engaged in providing stocks for larvae. In their nests there are separate compartments for prey, where it is stored for feeding offspring. In the future, the larvae develop independently.
Social wasps lead a richer life. In spring, the uterus finds a place where it creates a house. In the nest, she lays eggs, and then takes care of the appeared larvae. With the first brood, the uterus gets rid of its worries. Now the nest is looked after by working wasps. They rebuild the nest further and get food. The uterus, in turn, continues to leave offspring.
Some believe that wasps and bees sleep at night. However, in reality everything is completely different. Insects have a few minutes a day to relax. They never sleep at night. The nests are constantly in full swing. Wasps gradually chew on the bark, and in the morning they rebuild new honeycombs with the resulting material.
Interesting fact: males do not live more than two weeks. Most often, they die some time after mating with the uterus.
Most of the representatives of wasps have a bad character. They will never attack first, but they will sting at the slightest excitement. Relatives feel the smell of wasp venom, so it is best for the victim to move away from the nest until an entire colony has attacked it. Wasps come together and jointly confront enemies.
Social structure
In winter, wasps winter under the bark of trees, fallen leaves, in their nests. Nests are located in nooks and crannies. In the spring, the uterus fly out and look for a new place where they will build nests. Nests are needed so that a wasp can breed and increase the size of the colony. The construction of nests involves tree bark, small pebbles and other natural building materials.
The first offspring are sterile individuals. They continue to continue the construction of the nest and get food for the uterus, caring for the offspring. At the end of summer, the uterus produces a new brood, which is also able to breed. Once the females have been fertilized, they are looking for a place to winter. Males die quickly.
Most predatory wasps live in the land. Only a few, in principle, do not rebuild nests, settling in natural openings. Single individuals prefer to lay eggs in separate cells, which is not characteristic of public. There is no connection between the larvae and adult insects of solitary wasps. After blockage, the larvae survive on their own. A notable fact is that male larvae are placed in smaller cells. From this we can conclude that males are smaller than females.
Single individuals build more interesting nests than public ones. These include:
Digging wasps, otherwise called Sphecidae. Build nests in sheltered corners. Basically, these are places on the side of the house walls. Flower wasps, otherwise called Masarinae, build their homes in exactly the same way.
Breeding
In winter, adults are constantly hiding in shelters. To this end, they pre-search for nooks and crannies. In the spring, the uterus searches for a place and builds a nest. After the first brood, the uterus ceases to build a house on its own. This task lies entirely with the working wasps.
In late summer, fertile wasps are born. Fertilized females hide in shelters for the winter, and males die after mating. From one uterus, up to 2 thousand insects are produced, the mass of which cannot be fruitful.
The uterus seals the eggs in a special chamber, where they are together with the insects placed there. Larvae feed on insects, developing into full-fledged individuals. Those larvae that can reproduce further feed differently. Their diet is food that promotes the development of genital organs.
Views
Zoologists have a lot of varieties of wasps. The main differences are in size, pattern and color. The pattern on the body is often clear, but has a different shape. Ordinary wasps have patterns similar to an anchor.
Paper wasps
Paper wasps are a group of insects that include several subfamilies. About sixty species can be found in central Europe alone. This is a public variety with a cohesive social structure.
Hornet
Hornets are a large family of paper wasps. These are the largest representatives of wasps, growing up to 5.5 cm. They are found mainly in the northern hemisphere, being considered a rare species. The hornet is a fairly large representative of wasps with extremely caustic poison. Hornets bites are painful, can lead to disastrous consequences for humans.
Single wasp
Single wasps - a whole group of insects living separately from others. These include many species of wasps. For example, a flower wasp. These are extremely small wasps, no larger than a centimeter. They feed on pollen and nectar. Nests are made from clay mixed with sand and saliva.
Interesting fact: like wasp bees have a good sense of smell. They can smell the poison of relatives and attack in a swarm.
Sand wasp
Sand wasps, numbering over 8 thousand species. They can be small - up to 0.5 cm or large - up to 2 cm. You can meet the species in tropical countries. These wasps are predatory, live underground, where they build nests. Mostly black and yellow.
Interesting fact: paper wasps living near humans live in swarms.They distinguish each relative, remembering muzzles.
Black wasp
Black wasps are also sandy. They are medium or large. Extremely poisonous, live in tropical countries. Sometimes found in northern areas.
White and Red Wasps
White and red wasps are also extremely toxic. They can kill a person with one bite.
Natural enemies of wasps
Social varieties of wasps live in large families. Together protect the house from attacks of enemies. May be the cause of death in a joint attack. The colonies also have their own enemies.
Some birds dare to attack wasps. European beepies dare to attack wasps during the flight. They quickly tear off stings and eat insects. They also feed wasp chicks. Bees feed on wasps, instantly grabbing in flight of wasps. They crush insects, and then quickly swallow. Birds do not harm themselves in such a hunt.
Interesting fact: Hornets also use powerful jaws during an attack. Several hornets can ruin a whole bee hive, destroying the colony. Powerful hornet jaws crush insect chitin, can even kill a mantis.
Various parasitic insects inhabit whole wasp nests. Ticks and larvae are attributed to them. Ticks eat young animals, while hiding from adult insects. Thus, ticks can greatly reduce the number of insects.
Wild animals also feed on wasps. The main enemies are hedgehogs, bears and other medium or large predatory animals. At the same time, many predators bitten once by wasps prefer not to attack.
The main enemy are people who are trying to exterminate wasps in the dachas and in the walls of houses.
Benefit and status of the species
These insects are considered important parts of the fauna. Despite the fact that they only harm beekeepers and do not produce honey, they are still useful for nature. Wasps kill a lot of agricultural pests. They catch various insects to feed the larvae. Pest control helps plants a lot. So parasites do not attack gardens.
Wasps allow you to get rid of the bear. To this end, people attract earthen wasps with flowering plants. Insects quickly eliminate pests, destroying also grinders and leaf beetles. These types of insects feed on paper, nosy, and wall wasps. Thus, the number of pests is significantly reduced. You do not even have to use chemicals.
Population
There are many varieties of wasps. They are found in different countries, because insects quickly breed and are able to defend themselves. The species is not threatened with extinction or complete extinction. These insects settle in the most inaccessible places, therefore they are not in danger.
Security
The species is not considered endangered, therefore it is not in the Red Book. Only some species are considered rare in certain areas. For example, in the Red Book of the Moscow Region there is a forest wasp. This happened due to the fact that in those places wasps of this species are rare. In the forests, insects are not so few.
The main reason for the decline in the population is human action. This is considered the main factor, because people independently destroy wasp nests, considering them to be pests. Periodically, insects rebuild nests in open areas, so they are damaged due to winds or rains.
Slightly the population of wasps is declining due to natural enemies. Animals are killed by predators, parasites or birds. At the moment, all habitats of forest wasps are carefully protected by environmentalists. Now it is planned to create new reserves for the protection of insects of this species.
What to do if a wasp has bitten?
Wasps are extremely aggressive when it comes to home safety. Public species can attack in whole colonies, killing the enemy. Thus, a person can be seriously affected, approaching the nest of wasps.Even one wasp will bring a lot of problems to a person, and especially if he is allergic. The insect family attacks with such force that it can kill an adult.
One creature bite is extremely painful. At the place where the sting stuck, swelling and redness appear. The pain from a bite of ordinary wasps disappears in half an hour, while especially poisonous species can be killed with just one bite. The swelling at the same time remains for some time.
At the same time, wasps attack not only people, but also other types of wasps. Earlier it was said that insects settle near people. In a situation where a person is trying to eat the same food as a wasp, he may not notice the insect sitting on the food. A bite into the tongue or other tissues in the mouth is extremely painful, in dangerous cases even the respiratory tract is affected. Allergy sufferers are advised to always carry special drugs with them to go outdoors.
Ice or a wet towel is applied to the victim's bite. Plantain juice or onion helps a lot. The leaves of the plantain are pre-washed from dust, after which they are kneading and applied to the bite. Compresses should be replaced periodically with new ones. The pain will pass in the shortest possible time together with edema.
