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The queens got up early: it will soon be decided how extreme the wasp summer gets
An extreme summer of wasps is feared because the queens are already active as in 2018. But the next few weeks are crucial.
When a wasp approaches: stay calm. They don’t like water spray. Image: Shutterstock
The wasp queen wants to be in the box of blinds. It is huge and is on its way early, since the beginning of April it has been flying alone on the terrace. An observation that many people made on the warm spring days.
Insect expert Thurgau Siegfried Keller says:
“The wasp queens were activated earlier this year than in the ‘normal’ years. This is due to the higher temperatures, especially in March and April ».
Wasp queens usually wake up from hibernation in early May. Unlike bees, only fertilized queens overwinter in wasps. In the spring, they look for a suitable place for honeycomb construction and the warm days of April are ideal for this.
One egg in each honeycomb
Once the queen has found a place for her honeycomb, it takes about a week to build, and then she places an egg in each honeycomb. Then it also provides food for the young. “After about five weeks, the first generation of workers hatches. All sterile women under the action of a pheromone secreted by the queen, “explains former Agroscope Keller researcher.
These workers cannot have children, but they have time to help the queen build honeycombs and raise the new generation. The workers’ lives are short, they only live from two to four weeks. But thanks to her help, the queen can withdraw from tasks and concentrate entirely on laying eggs. The number of wasps is constantly increasing and peaks in July and August with several thousand workers per person.
Before killing an insect next time, you should look at these photos
Climate development is crucial
In 2018, wasp queens were on the road as early as this year. And then followed an extreme summer of wasps, so now it is feared again. But the insect expert declines: “You can’t predict that yet. That mainly depends on the development of the climate ». A cool, rainy summer slows development and it won’t be a wasp summer. Even a hot, dry summer does not lead to the wasp pest. “Wasps lack the insects they need to feed the young,” says Keller.
When the summer comes to an end, the wasp queen lays unfertilized eggs from which the males develop. At the same time, future queens grow into larger cells and receive special food. So spoiled, the young queens soon swarm and mate with males of neighboring breeds. With mating, the males soon lost their lives, they die like the old queen. “The workers who stayed were excited until October,” says Keller.
The new queens overwinter in a stiff state in a sheltered location and emerge in warm temperatures as they did earlier this year.
If the wasp queen dies over the course of the season, the colony cannot develop further. In such a situation, bees can raise surrogate queens. Such behavior is not known from wasps.
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