| Colonies are founded in the spring by a single queen
that mated the previous fall and overwintered as an adult, usually under
the bark of a log. Nests may be aerial or terrestrial, depending in part
upon the species of the wasp. Some species may construct both types of
nest. Regardless of location, each nest is a series of horizontal combs
completely surrounded by a paper envelope. Initially, the solitary queen
must not only construct the paper brood cells, but also forage for food,
lay eggs, feed her progeny, and defend the next from intruders. When the
first offspring emerge as adults they assume all tasks except egg
laying. The queen devotes the remainder of her life to this task and
does not leave the nest again. For most of the season the colony
consists of sterile worker females which are noticeably smaller than the
queen. Each worker tends to persist at a given task, such as nest
building or feeding larvae, for a given day, but may change tasks if the
need arises. Working habits apparently are not associated with age as
they are in the honeybee. Workers progressively feed larvae a diet of
masticated flesh of adult and immature insects, other arthropods, and
fresh carrion. Lepidopterous larvae appear to be a favorite food. In
autumn, larger cells are constructed for the crop of new queens. Larvae
in these cells receive more food than do those in normal cells. At the
same time, the queen begins to lay unfertilized or male eggs in either
large or small cells. After emergence, the new queens mate and seek
shelter for the winter. These will be the founders of next spring's
colonies. The old founder queen dies, and the workers begin to behave
erratically until social order breaks down. With winter's arrival, the
remaining colony dies. -information provided by
edis.ifas.ufl.edu |
