The benefits and harms of wasps - how to maintain good neighborly relations between humans and insects

People treat wasps with caution and hostility, expecting a surprise attack and bite. In fact, predatory insects are not so aggressive. If they are not provoked by sudden movements, then they calmly fly away on their own business. Neighborhood with wasps can benefit gardeners. For a day, one female catches 20-30 pests - flies, caterpillars, beetles, butterflies. Small insects serve as food for larvae. In nature, the benefits and harms of wasps balance each other. Stinging insects are part of the food chain, if this link is removed, an environmental disaster occurs. Is peaceful coexistence between humans and wasps possible?

Description and lifestyle

Wasps, along with their closest relatives, bees and bumblebees belong to the order Hymenoptera. Numerous types of insects have a common body structure. Their chest and abdomen are connected by a thin waist similar to a stalk. In adults, two pairs of membranous wings. Large eyes have a complex structure that allows you to see in several directions. Powerful jaws are adapted to gnaw fruit peel, remove bark from branches, and tear prey. The body is covered with many hairs. Movable antennae are the organ of smell and help determine the size of the honeycomb during the construction of the nest.

Information. The presence of a narrow waist allows the wasps to fold in half and sting the enemy at any angle. This quality helps to cope with a large opponent.

Among stinging insects, solitary and public wasps are found. The familiar yellow-black color is only part of the species. For example, the chitinous carapace of a wasp glitter shimmers with a blue, purple and green metallic sheen. Female females are densely covered with red hairs and have patterns on the abdomen. Sizes of adult wasps from 5 to 100 mm. Insects differ not only in size and color, but also in behavior.

Adult wasps, regardless of species, eat plant foods. They prefer to collect nectar, drink juice from soft, rotten fruits. Protein food is needed by growing larvae and the uterus. In order to get food, adults have to hunt. The benefits of a wasp, a polyphage predator, in controlling the number of insects.

Information. Pompilida road wasps are able to cope with a poisonous tarantula. With a quick blow, they paralyze the spider and drag it into the hole to feed the larvae.

Females of solitary wasps arrange nests in the ground or stems of plants. They leave offspring food in the form of paralyzed insects. Public wasps live in colonies. The family is controlled by an uterus that lays eggs. Working wasps help look after larvae and build multi-tiered nests. In autumn, the dwelling becomes empty, only the fertilized young uterus survive the winter.

Striped predators

At first glance, it is not clear how wasps are useful? Their main purpose, like any predator, is to maintain a natural balance. The uterus and working wasps tirelessly prey on various insects. Their residues are chewed, mixed with enzymes and used to feed wasp larvae.Among the most productive fighters against garden pests, chines and typhi stand out. These families help get rid of the main enemy of plants - khrushchev. May beetle larvae are polyphages; they eat the roots of any plant. Offspring of wasps parasitize on the larvae of the pest, eating it alive.

Skoli are primitive solitary wasps that help exterminate larvae of lamellar beetles. Sizes of insects from 10 to 100 mm, wingspan 60-100 mm. The body color is black, bright yellow or red spots stand out on the abdomen. Webbed wings with a purple sheen. Females lay an egg on the larva of a horsetail, bronze, rhinoceros beetle. Skolia does not kill the victim, but immobilizes. The larva emerging from the egg begins to feed from the least important organs. This natural instinct allows you to keep food fresh for a long time.

The closest relative of the scoliosis is typhus. It is smaller (5-12 mm), the body is evenly painted black. The female lays eggs on the larvae of pests - bread beetles. Thick-legged typhus live in Russia. This limb has a red-brown color. The whole body is covered with white hairs. Females dig a passage to a depth of 10 cm in order to paralyze the June grapevine and lay an egg. After a few hours, the beetle larva is able to move, but its existence will not last long.

Information. The wasp Larra acts in a similar way, only it leaves its offspring to feed on bears.

Striped paper wasps catch pests not in the ground, but on the surface and air. Their favorite prey is flies. They do not avoid caterpillars, bugs, leafworms, mosquitoes, aphids.

Wasps and flowers

What else is the use of wasps? In order for the plants to yield a good harvest, pollination is necessary. About 20% of crops can be pollinated by the wind or self-pollinated. The rest need helpers for pollen transfer. It is traditionally believed that bees do this. But wasps act as well. Adults eat plant foods. They love nectar, so they fly from one flower to another. Pollen clings to the legs and body covered with hairs and falls on other flowers. The radius of the bee’s flight is limited by the location of the apiary, and their striped cousins ​​settle anywhere. Wasps play an imperceptible, but significant role in pollination.

Why do people not like wasps?

If the benefits of striped insects are not always noticeable, then people feel the harm from them in full. It manifests itself not only in bites, but also in corroded fruits and berries.

Spoiled harvest

After pollination of plants, insects pretend to be fruit. They prefer soft, sweet fruits. A large swarm can damage a large number of apples, pears, plums, raspberries. Grapes are especially affected. Wasps with strong mandibles easily gnaw through the skin and drink juice. Damaged berries degrade the presentation of bunches.
Various methods are used to combat insects:

• hang baits;
• destroy nests;
• process grapes with chemicals;
• the bunches are wrapped in special bags.

Bee Fighters

The greatest harm from wasps is experienced by beekeepers. Predators are attracted by the aroma of sweet honey. They make their way to the hive and eat the stock prepared by bees. Lack of food weakens brood. In addition, between bees and wasps, a battle ensues in which many honey plants die. A strong family is able to fight off paper wasps, and a weak family can not cope.

Critical is the attack on the apiary of the largest representatives of the aspen family - the hornets. Striped giants are significantly larger than bees. They easily tear prey, grabbing on the fly. A hive with honey and insects becomes an ideal food base for them.

Another enemy of the beekeepers is the philanthropist or bee wolf. This is a single wasp of small size 10-17 mm. She paralyzes her victim with a sting under the chin. This place is not protected by chitin and the poison quickly enters the main nerve node. Nectar is very harmful to the offspring of the philanthropist. He carefully crushes the killed victim with his paws, squeezing the contents of the abdomen.Nectar is eaten by an adult, the bee's body is given to the larvae.

Wasp sting - painful and dangerous

Insects use two types of self-defense. The first is a deterrent color. It signals birds and reptiles about the toxicity of wasps. As an active defense, they use a sting located at the end of the abdomen. Over the years of evolution, the ovipositor of females has turned into a solid tube. A smooth organ does not get stuck in the skin, so an insect can inflict many bites. The sting is associated with the gland that produces poison. The chemical composition of a toxic substance varies depending on the genus of wasps. In case of danger, the insect releases a special enzyme that calls to help the rest of the family. Having disturbed one individual, you can encounter an attack of a whole swarm.

Information. Highly toxic venomous insects include Asian hornets. From their sting, several people die every year. Not fatal, but extremely unpleasant is the attack of road wasps. Their bite of pain in second place, second only to tropical ants.

After a bite, the following symptoms may appear:

• burning and itching;
• redness and swelling;
• headache;
• increased heart rate.

Attention. Extremely dangerous bite in the neck, it causes suffocation. People who are allergic to wasp venom can experience anaphylactic shock. They must be taken to the hospital.

A stung person should be given first aid. The bite site is treated with an antiseptic agent - hydrogen peroxide, alcohol tincture. To reduce pain and relieve swelling, use a cold compress.

How to destroy stinging insects

No matter how great the benefits of wasps in nature, in some cases people have to go to extreme measures and destroy dangerous neighbors. To reduce the number of insects, special traps are used. These are homemade or purchased containers with a sweet bait. Individuals flying into them cannot get out. You can get rid of the nest with the help of modern insecticidal drugs. Aerosol formulations - Dr. Klaus, Mosquitoll. Dichlorvos can quickly and effectively destroy stinging insects. An effective way is to burn the nest. But to use it under the roof of a house or on a tree does not work.

Everything created by nature has its purpose. The beneficial insect wasps should not be underestimated. Without these tireless hunters in the cities, they would have to fight off hordes of flies. In gardens, predators destroy harmful insects, allowing less frequent use of chemicals.