European Paper Wasp Queen
The paper wasps have been out in force the past couple of weeks, and I’m surprised I haven’t seen any thriving nests. Most queens should have popped their first generation of workers by now, but this nest and another outside my front door are still in the Phase 1 building plan.
I’ve watched these two queens, and their behavior is fascinating. For one thing, they hide behind their nest for much of the day. This seemed odd to me because in the fall you can’t get near a nest without a couple of wasps flicking up their wings and staring you down aggressively. I suppose this makes sense, however. If you stumble across the nest, the queen can fly away and start another one, but if the queen picks a fight with you and loses, her entire generation is lost. It’s a matter of colony survival that makes the queens behave, at least at this point, slightly docile.
I have not tested this theory by approaching the nest and seeing if she’ll sting me or flee, mind you.
Cool thing about this picture: Can you see the eggs? You may need to check out the larger version.
For those of you who like the geometric pattern here, I made wallpaper. Enjoy!
Scott said,
May 28, 2008 @ 7:48 am
Okay I hope you didn’t get too close. Don’t get stung for your art.
tceisele said,
May 28, 2008 @ 8:02 am
Ah, wasp stings are overrated anyway. I think they hurt more when you are a little kid (the venom is a bigger share of your body mass then, after all, plus I think that kids have had less chance to get used to the idea of pain[1]), and the memory of childhood bee and wasp stings conditions us into adulthood into thinking that they are terrible experiences. Last summer, I accidentally mixed it up with a nest of these paper wasps. Even though I got several stings, fifteen minutes later I could barely tell where each sting had been.
[1] “Life is pain, Princess. Anyone who says different is probably selling something.”
David Brady said,
May 28, 2008 @ 8:10 am
tceisele: cool. I have sort of hoped that they don’t nail you as hard…
I am happy to report that, not counting mosquitoes, I have been stung zero times and bitten zero times since starting InsectPOD.
Kestralyn said,
May 28, 2008 @ 9:37 am
that is such a fantastic photo!!!
JTan said,
May 28, 2008 @ 10:26 am
I especially like the fact that you can see the eggs in the nest as well!
JFargo said,
May 28, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
(Testing a theory)
That is such an awesome photo. Like JTan, I really admire the fact that you can see the eggs in the nest! Glad to hear you haven’t been stung doing this, but I really hope you knocked on wood after typing that out.
tceisele said,
May 28, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
Oh, incidentally, could you check back on this nest from time to time, to see how long it takes for the eggs to hatch and mature? I’m thinking this will be the perfect time, seeing as how there is evidently only the one adult to work around when taking pictures.
David Brady said,
May 28, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
tceisele: That would have been a great idea for me to have before I swept off the nest.
Unfortunately, it had to go–it was about half a meter from the front door.
Had I had this idea beforehand, I could have waited until the first gen hatched. Sorry.
I’ll keep my eyes peeled for another nest, though. Shouldn’t be too hard to find. I actually cleared off two nests, and this one wasn’t he closer of the two. (The other one was just above the porch light, about 10cm from the door.)
MacNut said,
May 28, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
Don’t feel too bad David-both those nests were entirely too close to your front door, your family would have risked being stung daily if they had remained and the eggs matured. They had to go. Like you said, there’ll be more nests to be found.
Of course you do realize, that bragging about how you’ve never been stung etc., means you’re gonna fall into a hornet’s nest or something and get nailed really good now right?
Oh, and they’ll most likely be the first colony of Asian Giant Hornets ever discovered in the US. 
;)
David Brady said,
May 29, 2008 @ 12:38 am
MacNut: When it happens, I’m going to blame you. >:-)
Insect Picture of the Day » European Paper Wasp Queen said,
June 19, 2008 @ 12:21 pm
[…] first brood of the year. You can see the eggs have changed to a milky color compared to the eggs I photographed a few days ago. It also looks like she’s provided some nectar or other form of nutrient goo for the larvae […]