Wasps

Hornet (European)

livelinkadmin — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:16:25 +0000

The European Hornet is a wasp that is often just referred to as the Hornet. It is England’s largest social wasp and can mainly be found in the south. It is a social wasp because it lives in a group called a ‘colony’. A colony can consist of up three hundred to a thousand hornets. Each colony has one Queen Hornet that spends most of her life laying eggs and lots of female workers that take care of the general running of the colony. Towards the beginning of winter all the hornets die, apart from the Queen Hornet.

The European Hornet is about two to three centimetres long and the Queen Hornet can reach a body length of up to five centimetres. It has a reddish brown head with two long antennae and a reddish brown thorax. The thorax is the middle part of the body between the head and the abdomen. The abdomen is mainly yellow with black markings. It has six brown coloured legs and two pairs of reddish orange coloured wings.

European Hornets prefer to live in wooded areas where they can build their nests in hollow trees. However, some nests are built in wall cavities, buildings, garages and even disused chimneys. The Queen Hornet first starts to build the nest after she has emerged from hibernation and then lays her eggs. The larvae that hatch out of the eggs soon develop into workers. The workers continue to build the nest while the Queen Hornet concentrates solely on laying eggs in order to create a bigger colony.

Wasp (Bee Killer)

livelinkadmin — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:24:25 +0000

The Bee Killer Wasp is an insect also known as the European Bee Wolf. It is called a ‘bee wolf’ because it feeds its young called larvae on European Honey Bees. The Bee Killer Wasp stings a Honey Bee to stun and paralyse it and then takes it to its nest for the larvae to feed on. This bee can be mainly found in the south part of England where there is sandy soil.

The Bee Killer Wasp is about one to one and a half centimetres long and can be recognised by its yellow and black triangular-shaped markings on the rear part of its body. It has two black antennae on its head and two large black oval eyes. It also has six yellow legs and two pairs of transparent wings.

A female Bee Killer Wasp burrows a hole in sandy ground to make a nest. The nest has an entrance tunnel which leads off to little rooms called 'cells'. The female lays a single egg in the cell and then closes it, but not before a European Honey Bee has been supplied for the larva. Bee Killer Wasps are solitary wasps because each female constructs an individual cell for herself and provides for her young and raises them on her own.

Wasp (Common)

livelinkadmin — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:24:56 +0000

The Common Wasp is an insect that can be found in gardens, meadows, fields and woodlands throughout England, especially from May to September. It is a social wasp because it lives in a large group called a ‘colony’ which can consist of up to ten thousand wasps. Each colony has one queen wasp that spends most of her life laying eggs. Towards the beginning of winter all the wasps die, apart from the queen wasp which often hibernates in buildings.

The Common Wasp is about one to one and a half centimetres in length, but the queen wasp is nearly two centimetres long. It has black and yellow stripes running across its body and a black anchor-shaped marking on the front of its head with two large black antennae. It has six yellow coloured legs and two pairs of transparent wings which have vein-like patterns on them.

Common Wasps build their nests under the ground in abandoned burrows or in roof spaces of houses, garages or sheds. The queen wasp first starts to build the nest after she has emerged from hibernation and then lays her eggs. The larvae that hatch out of the eggs soon develop into workers’. The workers continue to build the nest while the queen wasp concentrates solely on laying eggs in order to create a bigger colony.