Wasp uterus - behavior and life cycle of the founder of the colony

Intrusive insects with a striped black and yellow abdomen are familiar to residents of cities and villages. They can be found in the garden, forest, garden or in the park. It is not uncommon for wasps to fly into an apartment, attracted by the smell of fruit, jam or fermented compote. In addition to the usual insects belonging to the family Vespidae of real wasps, there are about a million different species.

All representatives of the stinging hymenoptera group (except for ants and bees) can be divided into two groups: single wasps and public species living in colonies. The wasp uterus is the founder of the family and the center of the community. It is entrusted with the main function - procreation.

The appearance of the queen wasps

Among the swarm of swarming insects, the uterus stands out with one sign - a larger size. If the working individuals have a body length of 16-18 mm, then it grows to 20-25 mm. The head, chest and abdomen are clearly defined; there is a thin waist that is characteristic of all stalk-bellied insects. Complex facet eyes are located on the sides of the head. The mesh structure of the organ allows you to watch simultaneously in several directions. Antenna antennas are sensory organs that report the state of the environment.
Strong stings (jaws) are adapted for various functions:

• tearing and chewing food;
• gnawing moves;
• preparing building material for nests.

The wasp uterus looks like other females - it has two pairs of transparent wings, small hairs on the body. At rest, the wings are folded and tightly pressed along the body. Due to the presence of a narrow waist, the body of the insect is folded almost in half, this allows stinging the enemy at any angle. The sting of a female is a modified ovipositor, it is connected to the gland that produces poison. Weapons are used against enemies threatening the colony or uterus. For hunting, the uterus uses jaws that can crack a strong chitinous shell.

Speaking about the breeding of social wasps, it should be noted that the number of insect colonies varies significantly depending on their species. Public or paper wasps are divided into several subfamilies, the most common are spring and polystyles.

Vespins

To this subfamily belong the most organized species of wasps. They differ in the complex behavior and architecture of the nest. Insects are distributed throughout Europe, in Russia, in northern Africa, in America and Australia. A distinctive feature of the Vespin family is a large number of hairs on the body and the shape of the abdomen, chopped off at the base. The colony is characterized by the presence of only one uterus. This is a fertilized overwintered female. The differences between castes in the family are very distinct, the size of the uterus of the wasp is one and a half times larger than the working individuals.

Socket device

The queens establish nests in shelters (natural or man-built). The building material is bark taken from branches and rotten stumps. With strong jaws, the female scrapes the wood fibers.Gathering them in a lump, she flies to the place of construction of the nest. The fibers are again chewed and abundantly moistened with saliva. The wasp attaches a lump to the wall and carefully stretches it into a strip. A plurality of strips fastened together form a protective wall.

Paper wasps build two types of nests:

• hymnodomnous - with open honeycombs;
• calyptodomy - structures with a protective shell.

The construction of the Vespin nest takes place in several stages. At first it resembles a cup in shape, and then a sphere. In the spring, the design is so small that the uterus cannot accommodate in it; at night it settles in on the stem of the nest. Protective shells are created one above the other, while expanding the structure, the inner shells are gnawed.

Interesting fact. A constant temperature is kept inside the nest +30⁰. If necessary, wasps vibrate with muscles that distribute heat. The paper from which the structure is made is a good heat insulator, so temperature fluctuations do not exceed half a degree. Insects bring drops of water to cool the home.

Hexagonal honeycombs are located horizontally, wasp larvae in them hang upside down. The number of tiers is from 3 to 10. The first uterus is built by the uterus itself, after the appearance of working individuals, it stops foraging. Single stay of the queen lasts 1 month. When working females grow up, all worries about food and nest construction go to the offspring. Adult Vespins feed on flower nectar, sweet syrup, and ripe fruit juice. For larvae and uterus, they catch insects - flies, bugs, caterpillars, slugs, butterflies. Wasps gnaw off solid parts of the body at the prey, and bring the fleshy part to the nest.

There is a strict distribution of duties between working individuals - some bring food for the uterus and larvae, others guard the colony, and service the younger offspring. On hot days, insects vibrate with wings for ventilation. After the release of young individuals from the cells, cells are prepared for a new egg.

Interesting fact. The first generation of wasps is sterile females, they are noticeably inferior in size to other working individuals. Scientists attribute this fact to an insufficient amount of food, because the queen alone cared about feeding.

Vespins live in huge families, including thousands of individuals. Their nest is constantly expanding by the addition of new honeycombs hanging on the central leg. Eggs are laid in wasp cells, from which larvae appear in a week. By mid-summer, males and hundreds of young females appear in large cells, ready for fertilization.

The mating season falls on August-September. At this time, wasps are excited and often aggressive. Anyone who approaches their nest will be mercilessly attacked. After mating, the males die, the old queen also will not survive the next winter. Young fertilized uterus find refuge for wintering. The life cycle of the uterine vespin is 1 year, working individuals live 1-2 months. Some species of Hymenoptera insects are active until the start of winter. Working females of the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) and German wasp live in the nest until cold weather.

Interesting fact. The Vespinae subfamily includes 67 species, 23 of which are hornets, the largest representatives of European wasps.

Polysty

The subfamily Polistinae is the most numerous and diverse. They are also representatives of paper wasps - the largest family that has spread around the world. It has about 1000 species, of which 30 are found in Russia. These insects began to use paper much earlier than humans. Most species of polisty use chewed pieces of tree bark and various plant fibers for the construction of nests.

Information. Polisty is the most studied subfamily of public wasps. This is facilitated by their peaceful nature and open structure of nests.

Do polystytes have a uterus? Yes, sometimes even a few.Polysty do not differ in a certain division of functions between workers. They are an interesting intermediate between primitive and highly organized insects. During the construction of the nest, other fertilized uterus often join the female. When the time for reproduction comes, a struggle erupts between them for the possibility of laying eggs. Only one will achieve this right. Semiosocial relationships, characteristic of primitive development, are replaced by eusocial behavior. The uterus of polysties slightly exceeds the size of working females; in some species, the difference is 14-15% of the body length.

Information. Eusociality - serving sterile family members of individuals with reproductive functions.

The base of the nest by several uterus is not typical for all species of polist. In some, this behavior is a constant phenomenon, in others it is never observed.

Nest building

In April, when the weather is stable and stable with temperatures above +14⁰young uterus fly out of shelter in search of a place to build a new home. With strong jaws, they gnaw the top layer of the tree bark, used as a building material. When wood and saliva are mixed, a pulp of a semi-liquid consistency is obtained. From it, the uterus sculpts cells and walls of the structure. After drying, a material similar to rough gray paper is obtained.

Typically, honeycombs are hung on stalks of paper pulp. A tree branch, a hollow, a crevice, an earthen hole or human buildings becomes a place for a nest. Paper wasps can be in the attic, pipe, or just a beam under the roof. This neighborhood becomes dangerous with an increase in the number of stinging insects. Open cells without a protective shell are located in two ways:

• horizontally, cells down;
• vertically - cells and larvae are located perpendicular to the ground.

Development and feeding of larvae

The queen lays eggs in empty cells so that they do not fall out, the uterus uses a sticky secret for gluing. Each cell is filled with an egg as construction is completed. The development of offspring, including several molts occurs in 2-3 weeks. The larvae in length approximately catch up with the adult individual, while it is much thicker. They are all white or yellowish in color, devoid of legs. Their digestive organs are not adapted to plant foods. The uterus, and after the working females, feed them with fermented protein foods.

Interesting fact. Small larvae feed on goiter secretions of the uterus.

What do the wasps of their larvae feed on? The diet is wide, it includes various types of insects (flies, butterflies, beetles) and pieces of meat or fish that females find during flights. Carnivorous larvae cannot chew on their own, therefore they get lumps of “minced meat”. Wasps keep a lump of food near the head of the larva for 8-10 s, the remainder goes to feed the next larva. Having reached a certain stage, the larvae close the cell with a lid and pupate. In a few days a new wasp will appear.

Information. Larvae of hornets and some other species of wasps when hungry scratch their cells. This sound becomes a signal for working individuals that it is time to go hunting.

Feeding in public wasps is not a one-way process. Larvae burp droplets of liquid that lick working insects. This interaction is called trafallaxis. It helps insects exchange information and survive in the absence of food.

Information. The uterus often dies during the cultivation of the first generation of wasps. Left without larvae die of hunger.

A bite of an insect

Social wasps more often than other species attack humans. This is due to their instinct of protecting the nests and aggressive character. In late spring and early summer, the uterus makes many flights, taking care of the food of the offspring. Any action in her direction can provoke the use of a sting. A wasp uterus bite in a healthy person causes a local reaction characterized by redness and pain.Such manifestations disappear after a few hours, less often days.

The wound must be lubricated with an antiseptic composition - alcohol tincture, iodine, hydrogen peroxide. Pathogens may be introduced with a sting. Allergy to uterine venom of wasps occurs in 1-2% of people, it manifests itself with varying degrees of severity. This may be hives, dizziness, palpitations, especially laryngeal edema. If these symptoms appear, you must take an antihistamine and go to the hospital.

The uterus of wasps plays a major role in the foundation and development of the colony. This is the only female in the family that can lay eggs. The loss of the queen leads to the decline of the swarm. Other females can transform a non-functioning ovary to an ovipositor, but due to the lack of sperm, exclusively males will be born. Such a family has no chance to continue the clan.