What are wasps, photos and descriptions of different types of wasps

Photos of wasps can be seen in any textbook of biology, on websites on the Internet, information publications. The common wasp is found everywhere, characterized by a bright striped yellow-black color, small antennae, long transparent wings.Wild wasps are often settled on the dacha, the human land. Build nests in the ground, in the trees, under the roof, in attics, balcony. However, in the world there is a huge variety of wasps, differing in color, body structure, strength of poison, behavior.

Wasp anatomy

Hymenoptera is the most numerous, evolutionarily developed group of insects. Includes 155 thousand species.

A characteristic feature of insects of this species is the presence of a thin stalk between the abdomen and sternum. The people even appeared the concept of "wasp waist". The body is standardly divided into 3 parts - head, chest, abdomen. Different types of color differ, but almost always there are black, yellow, orange colors.

Another distinctive feature are special wings. Thin, transparent, with well-marked veins. The rear is always smaller than the front. Shimmer in different colors or colorless. More common beautiful purple tide. The paws of the wasp consist of 5 segments. Perform walking, grasping, digging functions.

There are mustaches on the head of different shapes and lengths. Carry out function of a reference point, catch sounds, smells. Well visible eyes.Powerful jaws do not contain teeth, but are so hard that they can bite through the insect's chitinous cover.

Wasp common

Insect wasp possesses stingwhich is hidden in the lower part of the abdomen, is a modified ovipositor. Only females have the ability to sting. The sting in the form of a needle is connected to the gland, where a poison of different toxicity is synthesized. It is used by insects in defense, protection of the nest, young, to immobilize the victim.

Interesting!

Individuals differ in body size and the structure of organs. The biggest wasp in the world belongs to the female race, reaches in size 55 mm. It belongs to the species Skole, lives in countries with a warm, tropical climate, some species are found on the territory of Russia, the countries of the former CIS.

What a wasp looks like can be seen in the photo below. Larvae differ significantly from imago. These are worm-like caterpillars of off-white color. Eat protein food, are predators.

Wasp species

The main classification divides these insects into 2 large groups.

Public wasps

Can be called differently, including paper. They form numerous families with the number of individuals up to 1 million. They build nests of different sizes. A standard hive is the size of an apple, the largest is 60 cm in diameter. Picture of the photo can be seen below.

There is a clear division into castes. Individuals communicate with each other by sounds, signals. At the head of the family stands female queenwhich is engaged in the reproduction of offspring. Some species of wasps provide for several fertile females in one hive, but they do not claim to be the queen, they simply help to increase the number of members of the wasp society. Wasp close up on.

Public wasps

Solitary

They are distinguished by primitive behavior, each individual lives separately. There are no nests as such; there is no swarm. Most of them are predators. Eggs are laid on the abdomen of the larvae of large beetles, spiders, etc. The larva develops independently, eating the victim from the inside. At the end of the stage pupates, it remains to winter in this form. In the spring appear imago. Poison some solitary wasps are extremely poisonous bite compared with piercing the skin with a hot nail. Photos with the names can be seen below.

On a note!

Public wasps are often called paper, woody, because their nests look like a cocoon woven from toilet paper, and nests are built on a tree, under the roof of wooden buildings, attic, hollows, old stumps. Solitary wasps include sandy, digging, road. Among them are quite harmless, useful creatures, parasites, killers.

Wasps in Russia are ubiquitous. Among them there are polystines, vespina, scoli, road, typhus, sand.

Single wasp

Lifespan

Life expectancy at different species, sexes is different. The male wasp performs the functions of a male fertilizer. Shortly after mating dies. On average, the male wasp lives 14 days.

Fertile females are called uterus, queen. The public womb lays the foundation for the future nest, chooses a suitable place, and exclusively deals with the reproduction of offspring. The uterus lives normal os year. Dies with the onset of persistent cold weather. Young fertilized females winter in wood, intensify their activities in the spring. Representatives of other species in countries with warm climates may live a few years.

On a note!

Most of the hive social wasps are females, not ready for mating - working individuals. They perform various functions on the construction of a nest, searching for food, feeding the larvae, protecting the hive, etc. The working individual lives from 1 to 2 months.

Life cycle - reproduction

The wasps lay their eggs in a hive or a special hole under the ground, where the paralyzed prey is previously sucked in.

The life cycle of social networks

Eggs lay the uterus in separate cells. Initially takes care of the offspring itself, gets food. After the appearance of the first generation of working individuals, they discard all responsibilities for building a nest and caring for larvae on them.

Wasp larva appears after a few days. Looks like a worm. Differs good appetite, growing rapidly. It feeds on protein food, insects carry them beetles, spiders, flies, larvae, pieces of meat. Within 14 days, the young individual passes through several molts, increases in size, and pupates into the end. Gnaws a cocoon, imago goes out. The entire life cycle takes up to 20 days. The maximum activity of the family in our territory is observed in the summer.

Breeding wasps

The life cycle of single wasps

Engaged in the reproduction of offspring is not so intense. The peak of activity falls on the second half of summer. The female digs into the ground, finds a potential victim, paralyzes. Tightens it in a special hole, lays an egg, gets out, digs in the entrance. This is where her mission ends. For each larva, the female searches for a new prey, digs a separate hole. In the cocoon, the larva winters, is born in early spring. The life of a wasp at the imago stage does not exceed 5 months.

Where insects live

Types of public representatives build nests, form the hive. Arrange a place of residence in the territory where there is a building material, food. Often a favorable place are the abandoned nests, burrows of rodents, anthills. As well as ordinary grass, dense crowns of trees, bushes, stones, mounds of soil. They can settle on the territory of human possessions - a garden, a vegetable garden, farm buildings, a roof, an attic, balcony. The wasps in the hive spend the whole summer, with the onset of cold weather they leave the nest. Only young fertilized females survive, who seek refuge for wintering under the bark of trees, crevices.

Solitary representatives live in the wild, spend the night catching their jaws and paws on the grass. Climb into a flower. It is impossible to determine their exact location because it is constantly changing.

Everything about os - interesting facts

Wasp species

Individual specialists are studying the life of wasps, they continue to surprise ordinary people with interesting facts.

• Little wasps. They are representatives of social, ordinary species. The body length of the female reaches 20 mm in size. Drones, working individuals, males - about 18 mm.
• Wood wasp. Includes many varieties, has a bright black and orange color. The size range ranges from 10 to 60 mm. The most dangerous representative of this kind - hornet, which can be distinguished by large dimensions. An interesting representative is the Synodica wasp, about which there is extremely little information.
• Asian Hornet. The most dangerous wasp. In China, Japan, 50 people die each year from bites, according to official statistics. For an allergic person, a single bite by a giant pest killer can be fatal. The size of the hornet is 5.6 cm.
• Large spotted scolia. This species is the most beautiful representative of the major wasps.The body size of the female is 55 mm, the male is 32 mm. Lays the larvae on the body of the larvae of the Maybirds, rhinoceros. Leads a primitive, solitary lifestyle. Despite the impressive size, safe for humans. The effects of a bite are numbness.
• Germans Outwardly, wingless downy females resemble an ant. Body size does not exceed 30 mm. The female has a bright color, the males of this species are brown tones. They do not build their own nests, parasitize hives of bees and other wasps.

In the world there are extremely many representatives of this species of Hymenoptera, each of them is unique, has its own characteristics.

Enemies wasps

Despite the serious poisonous weapon in the form of a sting, wasps are often attacked by other insects, become victims of birds, mammals.

• Destroy nests, ants left without a uterus. Weak, sick individuals can become the victims of these insects.
• Veernik paradox. The beetle sneaks into the hive, the mink of earthen wasps, lays eggs. Larvae develop on the body of young wasps.
• Hornets The most formidable enemy of the wasp family are the killer wasps themselves, having a significant advantage in size and size. Hornets completely ruin a family in one attack.
• Wasp birds are engaged in hunting for wasps. The chicks are fed by adult individuals, larvae.

In late autumn, the activity of the wasp family decreases, they become slow, slow-moving. They become victims of insects, many birds. In the early spring, bears are looking for insects under stumps and bark.