Social Wasps

Invertebrates home

Animal Kingdom

Taxonomy

Geological Table

Social wasp fast facts

Queens and females have stings, but males cannot sting
Adults feed on sweet liquids
Larvae feed on insects caught and cut up for them by the workers
Hornets are the rarest of the British social wasps, and easily recognised as they are yellow and brown in colour, and larger than the common German wasp
In Europe the hornets have a yellow head unlike the orange head of the British hornets

social wasp overview - social wasp nests - British social wasps - wasp food - wasp larvae - wasp queen - wasp adults - how to tell the difference between the 2 common wasps - wasp flight speed - hibernation

Social wasps overview

The social wasps are in the Vespidae family. there are 4000 species world wide, and seven species in Britain. Their life cycle is similar to Bumblebees, in that it is annual, with only the newly mated queens surviving the winter by hibernating. Wasp queens do not hibernate underground as bumblebees do, but usually choose a dry, cool, sheltered spot. Adults range in size from 10 - 30 mm long.

Social wasp Nests

A wasp's nest is constructed of chewed wood mixed with saliva, see the photograph on the right. The wood is obtained from unpainted fence posts, fences, tree trunks, and garden furniture that is unvarnished or treated. The wasps scrape off small pieces of wood, and the sound is audible, in fact the wood can act to amplify the sound enough to wake you up if it is the soffit board outside your window that they are scraping.

Unlike the social bees, wasps have no wax glands and construct their nests out of chewed wood mixed with their own saliva. You can see just how powerful the jaws of social wasps are by looking at the photograph of a common wasp queen's head at the bottom of the page.

On the right is a damaged wasp nest, either Vespula germanica or Vespula vulgaris. This nest was in a privet hedge and was found when the hedge was being trimmed. Wasps are very sensitive to any activity around their nest, and will stream out in great numbers at the slighest disturbance. Even if something passes the entrance/exit flight line it may come under attack.

Both of these species can also build their nests underground, in hollow tree or wall cavities, bird boxes, or any suitable sheltered site. A very successful nest can contain 10 000 cells, and so occupy a large space. The total number of wasps hatched from such a nest will be greater than the number of cells, as the cells are reused. It is possible for a very successful wasp nest to produce as many as 20 000 individuals.

Like bumblebees workers maintain the nest at a steady temperature of around 30^oC regardless of the outside temperature.

damaged wasp nest uncovered while cutting a hedge

Social wasps in Britain
Name	Adult size in mm	Flight months	Notes
Dolichovespula media	Q 18 - 22 W 15 - 19 M 15 - 19	Jun - Oct	Found in England, Wales, southern Scotland
Dolichovespula sylvestris, tree wasp	Q 15 - 19 W 13 - 15 M 14 - 16	May - Sep	Found in woodlands.
Dolichovespula norwegica, Norwegian wasp	Q 15 - 18 W 11 - 14 M 13 - 15	May - Aug	Found in woodlands.
Vespa crabro, the hornet	Q 23 - 25 W 18 - 15 M 21 - 28	May - Aug	Head, thorax and abdomen with orange/brown instead of yellow/brown
Vespula germanica, German wasp	Q 17 - 20 W 12 - 16 M 13 - 17	Apr - Sep	3 small black spots between eyes
Vespula vulgaris, the common wasp	Q 16 - 19 W 11 - 15 M 13 - 17	Apr - Sep	Anchor-shaped mark between eyes (see queen below)
Vespula rufa, red wasp	Q 16 - 20 W 10 - 14 M 13 - 16	Apr - Sep	2 abdominal segments nearest abdomen have orange/red patches

Wasp food and eating habits

Wasp grubs (see the drawing on the right) are carnivorous, the adults bring them prey which is mainly other insects. This is chewed up into a paste by the workers and queen and fed to the grubs. As many of these prey items are regarded as "pests" by gardeners, it is clear that the wasp should be regarded as the gardener's friend.

Adult wasps prefer sweet foods such as nectar, jam, ice cream, and as the adults feed the grubs the grubs exude a sweet liquid which the adult wasps lap up. Towards the end of summer when the queen has

Vespula vulgaris, the common wasp showing the spiracles

stopped laying eggs and all the grubs have hatched into adults, there is no more need for the adult wasps to bring back insect prey, and no grubs to give the adults the sweet substances they crave. So the adults go out and search for sweet substances.

They find sweet nectar in flowers, but as they have short tongues they cannot reach the nectaries of some flowers. It is at this time of year that wasps become a nuisance to man if they discover our sweet foods such as sugar, jam, ice cream, etc. In northern Europe wasps do not store food in their nests.

Wasp larvae

The larvae (see above right) are carnivorous eating chewed up bits of insects fed to them by adult wasps. In return the grubs exude a sweet secretion in their saliva which is lapped up by the adult wasps. This is why in early summer the wasp is the gardener's friend as it clears her plants of many pests.

The wasp queen

The Vespula vulgaris queen on the right and below is 16 - 19 mm long, (right and below right). The nest is started by the queen, and is about the size of a walnut. and contains 10 - 12 hexagonal cells. The queen then lays an egg in each cell. The cells point downwards, but the egg is partially stuck to the side, so it does not fall out. On average each cell is used twice.

Wasp Adults

Adults are vegetarian eating any sugary liquid, but mainly sugary liquid exuded from the grubs and nectar from flowers. Vespula vulgaris workers (females) are 11 - 44 mm long, and the males are 13 - 17 mm long. In the U. K. the first adult workers emerge around the end of May.

The lifecycle is similar to that of bumblebees, and the queen will have mated the previous summer/autumn. It takes 3 - 4 weeks from the time the egg is laid to the hatching of the adult wasp.

Vespula vulgaris, common wasp showing the 3 ocelli or primitive eyes

Above you can see a close up of a queen's head showing the 3 simple eyes or ocelli.

On the right and below a queen of Vespula vulgaris. The photograph below shows the powerful jaws needed to scrape bits of wood off fences etc. then chew them into a pulp for nest construction.

**How to tell the difference between Vespula vulgaris (the common wasp), and Vespula germanica (the German wasp)**

If you look at the black mark on the face of the queen below you'll see that it is long and curved up at the ends rather like an anchor - this is typical of common wasps. The German wasp has 3 black spots instead of this black anchor.

Vespula vulgaris body lengths are queen 16 - 19 mm, workers 12 - 15 mm, and males 16 - 17 mm.

Vespula vulgaris queen, common wasp queen, seen from above, full body at rest

Vespula vulgaris queen head, common wasp queen close up of the head showing the fearsome jaws

Hibernating queen wasp

On the right you can see a hibernating queen wasp. Note that her wings are folded and held under her legs, probably to protect them.

She is attched to the underside of a log in a log store. The logs were stored outside, and the temperature over the winter months went below minus 17C!

Wasp flight speed

Wasp flight speed has been recorded as 2.5 metres per second, and 250 wing beats per second. Compare this with other insects. They are expert fliers and can fly up, down, forwards and backwards.