I’m a Wasp

I’m a Wasp

I fly and make buzzing sounds in flight 

I have two sets of wings that continuously buzz when I’m flying.

I have two sets of eyes, compound eyes and simple eyes. My compound eyes allow me to see from many directions and angles so I’m aware of movements from potential predators. I can also see ultraviolet light. 

My simple eyes allow me to navigate my surroundings and fly. 

I have a hard exoskeleton to protect me against dangers I might encounter in my navigating this fascinating place we call earth. 

I have antennae to help me detect if I’m encountering any danger in my immediate surroundings. 

I have six legs that help me in getting around in my daily routine.

I have a stinger and I can sting multiple times unlike the bee that stings only once. A wasp will survive after stinging. 

A honeybee that stings will die shortly after they sting because the bee can’t pull its stinger out from the pierced skin and the poor bee will be torn apart trying to disengage its stinger. 

A lesson to the wary, stay clear of wasp and bee nests as wasps and bees will react immediately if their nest is disturbed even by accident. 

They are territorial and always protect their nest with the workers always keeping the queen safe. 

Wasp and bees are venomous and their sting can hurt and possibly cause respiratory distress to the victim that can be tragic if an allergic reaction occurs that poses deadly risk. 

If you’re out hiking or working in your garden please exercise caution and avoid these insects as best you can to avoid the possibility of a sting.

Wasps are social insects like their counterparts; the bee, the ant and the termite. 

Yellow jackets are the social wasps and they live in the colony and have a caste system similar to bees, ants and other social insects. 

The three distinct castes are the worker wasps, the queen and the drones. 

The worker wasps, females, have a short lifespan of a few weeks. 

They’re responsible for foraging for food, nest construction, caring for the larvae and protecting the queen. 

They work tirelessly and give of themselves completely as they wear the badge of honor and fidelity in keeping their colony protected.

The drones, males, are responsible for mating with the queen and soon die living a few weeks.

The queen wasp can live for up to a year if the colony is protected.

The queen will lay thousands of eggs in the colony that will form larvae that are cared for by the worker wasps who nurse them to maturity to continue the colony’s survival. 

The lifecycle of the colony is cyclical to the changing seasons where mating takes place in the warmer seasons and death takes its toll in the winter months. 

Wasps and bees hibernate in the winter yet the honey bee works through winter despite the cold and the lack of flowers. 

They benefit from the honey they produced in the previous seasons and are well stocked for the winter.

Wasps and bees differ as wasps are predators and seek flies, bees, caterpillars and invertebrates and they capture them through their sting which paralyses their prey.

They feed their larvae a concoction of these insects while the adults also forage flowers for nectar for themselves. 

Bees are pollinators and obtain their food from the sweet nectar of the flowers they pollinate when they fly from flower to flower.

Wasps can be traced back 120 million years evidenced by fossils and through their evolution the honeybee came to be, to evolve as a separate species, as bees. 

Wasps like bees live all over the world with the exception of Antarctica where it’s way too cold. The only way scientists can get honey in Antarctica is to have their loved ones ship it to them in hopes it doesn’t freeze during delivery. 

Most wasps are solitary. The truth of the matter is it’s the social wasps that are considered dangerous, it’s the yellow jackets that stings. Solitary wasps are harmless as they’re more interested in finding food rather than stinging.

Wasps can pollinate but not as natural as the honey bee. 

There are tens of thousands of wasp species worldwide while bees lay claim to 20,000 species and the honeybee, 8 species worldwide. 

I fly around in my daily life and may seek prey or fly from flower to flower getting excited as I feast on the sweet nectar of nature’s beauty.

I’m a wasp