Page 81 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #10

HORNETS

British wasp nests

All social wasp nests look supericially similar,
but variations in size, shape, location and position
of the nest opening can help you work out which
species made them. Here are four to look out for
(illustrations show completed nests).

EUROPEAN HORNET COMMON WASP
Vespa crabro Vespula vulgaris

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Nests are usually cylindrical, Beige and usually conical
with a single wide opening nest with a small opening
at the bottom. Cavity at the lower end. Nests in
nesters and generally found cavities above or below
in chimneys, barns and the ground, though also
other outbuildings along behind fascia and so t
the head of the European hornet is yellow The queen begins with attics and hollow trees. boards or roof cavities.
from above and to the front. building the nest in
spring. The larvae
Hornets are described as ‘advanced
develop in hexagonal
eusocial wasps’ – that is, they form a colony cells which are sealed
comprising overlapping generations, with with a cap made from
the adults represented by the reproductive a silk-like substance
under which they
queen and non-reproductive workers. The
will pupate.
workers undertake various tasks, from caring
for the larvae that develop in small cells
within the nest, to foraging for food, water
and nest materials. There is some evidence
that, as with honeybees, worker hornets take
on different tasks at different stages in their
short lives. “The life of a worker hornet is
certainly very busy,” says Stephen.
Clearly, the queen hornet has the most
important role in the colony – that of
producing offspring. Indeed, she is mother
to all the individuals within the colony, MEDIAN WASP ASIAN HORNET
which can eventually, as with the nest in Dolichovespula media Vespa velutina
Illustrations by Peter David Scott/The Art Agency in Britain, hornets have an annual life-cycle Grey conical nest, with a small Spherical or pear-shaped,
Stephen’s owl box, grow to include several
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hundred workers. Like other social wasps
– in other words, it begins afresh each year,
nest, which can grow very
opening positioned slightly
starting with the emergence of a mated
large and has an opening
of-centre at the base of the
queen from her winter hideout. Stephen
to the side.At least 10m
nest. Usually built at less
has finally succeeded in documenting most
above ground. Non-native;
than 2m above ground, often
stages of this fascinating cycle, which ends
only a handful of confirmed
in bushes or trees and only
with the demise of the entire colony, except
for the newly mated queens.
October 2018 rarely in buildings. UK records to date. 81
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