Description and photo of a paper wasp

Paper wasps, they are public, are a huge subfamily from the family real wasps. Include a large group of polystenov, vespinov. The last subfamily also includes hornets. The name received due to the nature of the structure of the nest, a material that ultimately resembles paper. Live swarm led by fertile female - womb, each individual performs its functions.

Appearance Description

If you ask a person to describe an ordinary wasp, he will start talking about a paper wasp, which is known to absolutely everyone, and lives everywhere. In the world there are about 1 thousand.species of this subfamily, 30 of them inhabit the territory of Russia.

Insect bright color with characteristic stripes of black and yellow, orange. The body is divided into 3 parts - head, chest, abdomen. The transition between the belly, breast is very thin, which is why the notion of “wasp waist” was born among the people.

Head black, lowered down, small mustache. The oral apparatus is equipped with powerful jaws, which the insect uses to collect building material, as well as when fighting with the enemy, if it is impossible to pierce with a sting. Three pairs of legs, thin transparent wings. A photo of a paper wasp is presented below.

Paper wasps

Interesting!

Particular attention is paid wasp sting. In one attack, the insect can sting non-stop up to 6 times. The sting resembles a sharp needle, pierces the skin well, is perfectly removable outside, unlike a bee. Aspen poison allergenic bite quite painful. Such an instrument is mainly possessed by females.

Social work

In tropical countries, paper wasps live For years, for our area insects allotted only one year. A young fertilized female in the fall is looking for a place to wintering under the bark of trees, in the crevices, and with the onset of spring proceeds to nest buildinglaying eggs.

To get building material, the paper wasp finds wood, spits out saliva, and in a few minutes scrapes the upper layer with its jaws. Chews jaws, turns into a sticky, sticky substance. Flies to the selected location, initially forms the leg for the future nest. Then cell out cell by cell. In each lays eggs.

Initially, the womb itself feeds the larvae, but after the appearance of the first generation of working individuals, it dumps all the responsibilities on them. The nest is gradually built up the average size of an apple. Reminds a sphere, below is the entrance. The look of the finished nest of paper wasps can be seen in the photo below.

Vespiary

Gradually, the number of the wasp family increased, reaching several thousand by the end of the summer. The main part - working individuals who perform different functions. They build a nest, find food, feed the larvae, protect the family.

Interesting!

Paper wasps communicate sounds. They give each other signals about danger, help, finding food.If a person happens to be near the nest, he carelessly waves his hands, risks to be bitten by one wasp, but after a few seconds a whole swarm will arrive.

Life cycle

In autumn, the nest is empty. Roy leaves the summer house, which is so hard built the entire warm season. With the onset of cold weather, the working individuals, the old uterus, become inactive, sluggish. Some of them die from natural enemies, others freeze. Only young females stay to spend the winter to continue the race, start over again.

The larvae are white worms. Extremely voracious. They eat exclusively protein food, while adult paper wasps require nectar, fruit juices. For the sake of raising the larvae, the wasps attack other insects, people, drag pieces of meat into the nest. At the last stage of development, the larvae pupate, and the imago leaves the cocoon. The whole period from egg to imago takes about 20 days. Therefore, the colony of paper wasps becomes noticeable by mid-summer.

Reproduction of paper wasps

Getting rid of insects

A paper wasp builds a nest in trees, in old hollows, under a stone, in abandoned anthills, just a good hole in the soil.And also often settled near the person - in the garden, garage, on the balcony, attics, under the roof.

On a note!

The danger to humans is biting. With a strong allergic reaction may be difficulty breathing, laryngeal edema, death. Small children are especially sensitive to poison. Even with the normal reaction of the body, the bites are painful, unpleasant.

You can get rid of paper wasps by trapspoisonous baits as well destruction of the nest. In the open area, the hive is burned, filled with water. In a residential building, garage, cracks in the wall is poured with foam. Under the roof, the nest is dipped into the water or a family of paper wasps are sucked out with a vacuum cleaner.

If insects do no harm, they can be left alone because they bring not only harm, but also benefit. On the land they destroy a huge number of pests, pollinate plants, contribute to increasing yields.