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Wasps
Wasps are insects.
They have 6 legs.
Some wasps can sting.
Only the queen wasp lays eggs in the nest.
Other wasps look after her and the young wasps.
Wasps are insects.
There are many different kinds of wasp. Some kinds of wasps are social insects. This means they live in very organised groups called colonies. A colony has one queen, some drones and many female workers, who do all the work. The workers have stingers. Unlike bees, a wasp can sting many times.
The queen is the largest wasp in the colony and she is the only one that lays eggs. Drones are males. They do not work or sting. Their only job is to mate with a queen so that she can lay eggs.
 In Australia, it is an agressive introduced wasp that causes problems. The European wasp first arrived in Australia in the 1950s.
It has yellow and black body stripes. The wasps defend their nests fiercely in summer. They are attracted to sweet foods, ripe fruit and even soft drink. Therefore, they may crawl inside a drink can or be found near rubbish bins. |
The nest may be in a roof space, hanging in a tree, shrub or in the eaves, in an air vent, or in the ground. The nest is filled with layers of papery comb made from chewed wood fibres. The wasps defend their nests fiercely in summer.
The queen lays eggs in separate compartments, or cells, inside the nest. They hatch into larvae and remain in their cells as they grow and change into adults, before they come out. Adult social wasps feed mostly on nectar and plant sap but feed the larvae with chewed insects and spiders. In mild areas, a colony lasts a single season, and the drones and workers die in autumn. The queens have mated before the drones die, and shelter during the winter and in spring lay eggs and start new colonies.In late summer/autumn, the workers and males die, leaving only the queens who look for shelter to spend the winter and then set up new nest sites in the next year. A queen wasp starts a new nest (old nests are not reused) in late spring by chewing tiny amounts of wood, which, with the wasp's saliva, becomes a papery material. Later, when the young develop into female workers, the queen will remain in the nest to produce more offspring, and the nest will increase in size.
Go here for more information about European wasps http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/wasps/
Go here for information about Paper wasps http://kaweahoaks.com/html/wasp_paper.htmlAcknowledge this source in
your bibliography like this:
Wasps. (2001).
[Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au
Updated September 2007