The low frequency droning is an unmistakable acoustic cue for anything with auditory capabilities. There are times though when the menacing monotone is not present and the pain is a complete surprise.
While the lilting and directionless flight pattern can camouflage the potential agony to the inexperienced, any physical encounter has the real possibility of a painful attack.
Wasps in panhandle Florida, and most other locales, are known for their grumpy nature and dreadful retaliation when their nest is disturbed. They are the chronic cranks of the mini aerial realm during much of the year, but the autumn brings out the hyper-aggressive nature of these churlish insects.
Yellow jackets, one of many native wasp species, instinctively know the end is near for most of the colony. Still, they are feeding in the waning days of autumn and supporting their queen. Blooms attractive to pollinators are an ideal ambush site.
Provocation may be innocent or malicious, wasps do not care. Whether an oblivious gardener stumbles upon a nest during autumn cleanup or a spiteful adolescent uses the yellow jackets’ nest for target practice, as many wasps as available will immediately strike back at the perceived offender and all others in the immediate area.
The social, and in some respects antisocial, variety of these insects live in colonies much like honeybees, and may have up to several thousand active, and well-armed, members. Depending on the species, they build nests in protected places above the ground or below the soil’s surface.
Some wasps are omnivorous, feeding on overripe fruit and carrion. Others, such as yellow jacket larvae, consume dead insects provided to the young by a legion of adults.
Sporadically, some species, such as yellow jackets and hornets, will invade honeybee hives and rob honey. There is no professional courtesy between stinging insect species.
Like honeybees, wasp colonies consist of mostly female workers. Another similarity is only the females have stingers and know how to effectively apply them. Unlike honeybees, the wasp queens live only one year.
A majority of the wasp colony dies away in autumn adding to their already dyspeptic outlook, leaving only the young mated queens alive. During this period of enforced isolation, she leaves the nest to find a suitable area to endure the winter.
After emerging from hiding in spring, the young queens search for suitable new nesting sites. The royal insect matriarch will build a basic wood fiber nest roughly the size of a hickory nut and begin to lay eggs for the new generation.
The queen raises the first of several sets of wasp eggs until there are enough female workers to maintain the offspring without the queen’s assistance. All of the eggs produced at this time are sterile female workers who will begin to construct a more elaborate nest around their queen as the swarm grows in number.
There are also solitary wasps which live and operate alone in north Florida. They do not construct nests, instead depositing their eggs on host insects which serve as a sort of mobile nursery/café.
When the eggs hatch, the bug host becomes the first meal for the wasp larva. When these wasps mature they feed mostly on nectar and pollen.
There is also a native wingless wasp in north Florida and the surrounding states. It is commonly known as the Velvet Ant or the Cow Killer. While it will deliver a painful sting, as other wasps will, there are no verifiable reports of livestock lethality.
Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species which preys upon it or parasitizes it. This places wasps as a critically important natural control to potentially problematic bug species.
Some wasps are increasingly used for agricultural pest control on organic and conventional farms as they prey mostly on pest insects and have virtually no effect on crops. Nasty encounters with people aside, they are quite effective at tormenting their assigned prey.
Just be sure to give them the space (social distancing) to work and live, and everyone will be better for it.
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