Insect ident please

[PDQ Mobile]

Put a bowl of ale out for them and let they die happy.

A quick search reveals them likely to be Vespula Vulgaris so if you give them ale they may become rude and offensive!

[Mick F]

The spots give them away.
VV it is then.

image.jpg (20.26 KiB) Viewed 444 times

Here's the hole.
Photo from our bedroom window.
Bungalow!

[PDQ Mobile]

I once did a building job where the only access was though a ground floor window.
Under the windowsill was a wasp's nest, not Vulgar ones, I hasten to add, but some rather strange looking and robotic ones.
The guards would always be alert as barrows were wheeled in over them, and they would follow anything that moved just by the entrance but they never attacked anybody.
This is a wasp sparing plea!!
They are nice addition to your lovely diverse bank side.
A small sheet or large towel hung up, might provide a flight path diverting screen.

[Mick F]

Absolutely no reason to kill them off as yet.
If they keep themselves to themselves they can stay, and we're happy for them.

The doors and windows were open most of the day, and even overnight, and yesterday afternoon, there was a regular patrol coming in the house and out again. In one door and out the other plus a tour round and about to see what's what.

I've been thinking ............
I don't know much about these critters, but the queen must have made the hole and laid eggs which then hatched, and all the tiny baby wasps "fledged" and flew about. Meanwhile they're growing and growing.

Question:
Where's the male in this? Who fertilised the queen and when? Last summer one or more of the male workers?
I understand that the workers die off over the winter and the queen hibernates. Was she pregnant during hibernation?

[Vorpal]

They are generally beneficial, in that they kill many pest insects. However, they also kill honeybees, dragonflies, and a number of beneficial insects, and some people are allergic to their stings.

They are protected in Germany because of decline in numbers.

[PDQ Mobile]

Some males and queens get raised alongside numerous workers.
The queens take a mating flight and are fertile though the winter hibernation. (I think! )
Not pregnant though; she lays eggs, which are fertilized upon laying from her lifetime stored sperm.
I am sure google would tell all.

You don't want too many in the house.
Though "left be" they are not usually aggressive away from the nest.

Autumn when they get get dopey (or have been at the cider!) they can then be a pain.)
A flight path screen helps. A board a couple of feet away from the entrance - quietly placed at night!

They are interesting and (in the right place!) environmentally beneficial, they catch many garden pests, and feed them to the young.
Evolution is a wonder.

(Ps. Vorpal got their before me!

Kill honey bees? The Asian one does (it's a predatory specialist)and could be a problem in the future. ((Another needlessly imported one like Varroa mites.))
But while the common wasp will occasionally rob honey from weak colonies, AFAIK it does not kill bees. Bees sting and can kill a wasp.

[Vorpal]

I've been thinking ............
I don't know much about these critters, but the queen must have made the hole and laid eggs which then hatched, and all the tiny baby wasps "fledged" and flew about. Meanwhile they're growing and growing.

Question:
Where's the male in this? Who fertilised the queen and when? Last summer one or more of the male workers?
I understand that the workers die off over the winter and the queen hibernates. Was she pregnant during hibernation?

They mate in the autumn. The queen is fertile when she goes into hibernation in the winter. When she emerges, she finds a nesting site, begins building a nest, and lays her eggs. As soon as the first workers hatch, they take over nest building. She will lay eggs for workers, and also for reproductive males and females. The nesting queen dies at the end of the season. her female offspring will mate and hibernate.

(cross posted with PDQ Mobile)

[Mick F]

Stored sperm.
Excellent idea. Let all the blokes die off after you've "harvested" them.

Sounds like something only a woman could have thought of!

[Vorpal]

But while the common wasp will occasionally rob honey from weak colonies, AFAIK it does not kill bees. Bees sting and can kill a wasp.

I said that wasps kill honey bees because my cousin who used to keep bees told me that. I have to admit I did not have any more basis for that than what my cousin said. However, when I started looking, I found https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ma ... ion_detail

[PDQ Mobile]

Stored sperm.
Excellent idea. Let all the blokes die off after you've "harvested" them.

Sounds like something only a woman could have thought of!

Indeed they die shortly after mating.

As to killer wasps.it's just one rather obscure link/reference.
I think altercations at the hive entrance can lead to mutual stinging.
A few wasps would have little chance of entering (and leaving!) a healthy hive though.

IMHO common wasps don't present much of a problem for healthy bee colonies.

This new Asian invader is probably a different kettle of fish though.

[Vorpal]

IMHO common wasps don't present much of a problem for healthy bee colonies.

I'm sure that's true.

[geocycle]

The behaviour described is similar to the Beewolf. Just been watching these at Minsmere, Suffolk. Nice blog about them here: https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/community/place ... death.aspx

[thirdcrank]

This has brought back some memories - a common occurrence for me.

In 1961 - age 16 - I had the idea to visit some people I knew living near Callander who owned a large country house in the Trossachs and I decided to ride up there 250+ miles in the day. Very little planning and not much idea about feeding and none at all about hydration - nobody had heard of the latter then.

Arriving in the small hours, I found wasps swarming in my bedroom or at least they did whenever I turned the light on. Thousands of them. Not thinking too straight, I decided to turn off the light before getting into bed so they would all settle bit I got stung on a finger for my trouble. Not a big deal but I decided it was not for me so I disturbed some sleepy humans who sorted out another room for me. (I did say large house.) The following morning there was little admiration for my epic ride but something bordering on scorn for being worried about wasps. Then, one of the blighters stung the lady of the house on her arm and it swelled up like a balloon - barrage balloon that is. That was soon cured with an anti-hystamine injection although at the back of beyond, the doc was slow to arrive (Not Dr Findlay either, even though Tannoch Brae = Callander )

[Mick F]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1hDprY ... gs=pl%2Cwn

[Brucey]

Stored sperm.
Excellent idea. Let all the blokes die off after you've "harvested" them.

Sounds like something only a woman could have thought of!

With bees the queen chooses to either not fertilise an egg as it is laid (in which case it becomes a drone) or to fertilise it using stored sperm (in which case it usually becomes a worker). She chooses by measuring the size of the cell in which she is laying, using her hind legs as a kind of caliper. If a worker egg is taken early enough and fed differently, it can become a queen bee; this way the colony can create a new queen provided there are still some freshly laid worker eggs present, even if the old queen has swarmed out of the hive or has been killed.

I think wasps work similarly, but i don't know that for sure.

cheers