Wasps are wonderful organisms that play a vital function in the ecology, even though many people dislike them. Here are some fascinating wasp facts for kids that will help you in your exams!
Before starting facts about wasps, here is the scientific classification of wasps.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Superorder: Hymenopterida
Order: Hymenoptera
Wasp Facts 1-7
1. Wasps are present everywhere excluding Antarctica.
2. Wasps are capable of recognizing one another based on their distinct face patterns.
3. There are thirty thousand known species of wasps.
4. Social wasps employ their stingers and venom for defense, whereas solitary wasps utilize them for hunting.
5. Only female wasps possess stingers, which are modified egg-laying organs.
6. Wasps are available in every conceivable hue, including yellow and black, green, red, blue, orange, etc.
7. Wasps have been seen to employ reasoning. They may conclude two independent pieces of information.
It is claimed that this is the first evidence that invertebrates are capable of logical deduction.
Wasp Facts 8-14
8. Asian gigantic hornets are the biggest social wasps (scientific name: Vespa mandarinia).
9. The Giant Scoliid Wasp is the biggest single wasp (scientific name: Megascolia procer).
10. The venom of wasps carries a pheromone that makes other wasps more aggressive.
Avoid swatting a wasp near its nest or other wasps.
11. The effects of a wasp’s sting should subside within 24 hours, but for a tiny percentage of individuals, the venom in its sting can trigger lethal anaphylactic shock.
12. A deodorant containing aluminum may be used to cure a common sting.
13. Each colony consists of queens, males, and workers arranged according to a caste hierarchy.
14. Male wasps are known as Drones. The Drone’s responsibility is to mate with the Queen.
After finishing this task, they perish shortly thereafter. The male wasps are completely incapable of stinging.
Wasp Facts 15-21
15. Wasps don’t swarm.
16. European Hornets tear tree bark, inflicting harm to trees and bushes.
17. Wasps give meat to their offspring (e.g. insect larvae).
18. Only young, fertilized queen wasps can survive the winter. In the spring, they emerge from hibernation to construct fresh nests.
When the eggs hatch into larvae, the queen will feed them until they mature into workers.
The workers then search for food, nourish the young larvae, and protect the nest.
19. The colony develops males and new queens in late summer. The males then fly off to mate, while the queens locate a location to hibernate.
The cold temperature kills the men, workers, and core queen in the end.
20. Wasps can repeatedly sting their prey.
21. Wasps construct nests out of paper. They ingest strips of bark and spit them out to create a rough paper.
Some wasps build their nests in basements, sheds, or other cold, dark areas.
Wasp Facts 22-28
22. Each spring, a queen begins a new colony. She first produces a few worker wasps to expand the nest and deliver food.
Then she begins to lay eggs. In a single summer, a colony may produce 50,000 wasps.
23. The Natural History Museum in London estimates that social wasps in the United Kingdom catch over 14 million kg of insect prey each year, including aphids, caterpillars, and greenflies.
These are not consumed by adult wasps, but instead are gathered by adult female workers and given to larvae within the nest.
24. Polybia paulista, a species of wasp native to Brazil, contains a poison in its venom that destroys cancer cells without affecting healthy ones. The poison is referred to as MP1 (Polybia-MP1)
25. This wasp species, often known as the ‘jewel wasp’ or the ’emerald cockroach wasp,’ is valuable to humans because it helps control cockroach numbers.
The gorgeous, emerald-green jewel wasp is smaller than the cockroach it fights, but it nevertheless strikes and stings the cockroach with a poison that alters the cockroach‘s thought processes!
This puts the insect defenseless. The wasp then places its eggs on the cockroach’s leg, which survives despite being stung many times.
A baby jewel wasp larva enters the cockroach’s abdomen, grows within its body, and eats it from the inside out!
26. They occur in a vast array of forms, sizes, and hues, such as this sand wasp (below). Some are as short as 1 mm!
27. Wasps are omnivores with strong jaws for excavating dead animals. Wasp workers collect protein-rich meals for the larvae, which then release sugars and carbs to nourish the worker wasps.
28. After a wasp colony has died out, the nest is frequently used by other species, such as hoverflies. The hornet hoverfly feeds on nest detritus without being stung.