Jump To Section
Learn From The Pros
There are thousands of different types of wasps in the world and they all fall into one of two categories: social and solitary. Social wasps live in colonies while solitary queens begin their nests alone. The vast majority of wasp species are solitary creatures but there are quite a few social wasps, some who live here in New Jersey like yellow jackets and bald-faced hornets.
Different Types of Wasps: Social or Solitary?
The two different types of wasps in New Jersey that are in the same family as bees, sawflies and ants fall into two categories: social or solitary. There are numerous species of them, including hornets and yellow jackets. While most wasp species across the globe are solitary insects—meaning females tend to live and breed on their own—there are some wasps that are considered to be social species. This typically means they build nests to house bee-like colonies.
Females in some species, such as the Aculeata, lay eggs through their ovipositor—a tube-like organ that uses a stinger for defense and to catch prey. Where they lay their eggs also depends on the species. Many deposit their eggs near a food source. Some, such as the cuckoo wasp, lay eggs in other wasps’ nests. Parasitic ones choose an interesting spot for their young—in or on other insects. In this case, the larvae eventually kill their hosts.
Many of these different types of wasps are very helpful in gardens by cleaning up dead and harmful insects, and pollinating.
Social Wasp Species
Out of over 30,000 different types of wasps in the world, only about a thousand of them are social. Some of the social wasps in New Jersey include yellow jackets, European wasps, paper wasps, and bald-faced hornets. They sometimes build their nests in or on the outside of building structures, such as lofts and open cavities. If a swarm of them have done so in or on your home, they can easily get in through open doors, windows, vents. They love sweet things as much as you do, so if they get into your bathroom, it’s probably because they’re attracted to sweet things like your scented soap or shower gel. They’re also attracted to bright lights.
If you turn off your lights and open your window, chances are, the wasp will probably leave on its own. If it doesn’t, that probably means that the nest is inside of your home structure somewhere. If this has happened to you, please call us as soon as possible.
European hornets strip the bark from the trees or shrubs and can cause serious damage to either in the process. You might notice that their nests are woody as well. They create their nests by chewing and spitting out the wood fibers into a pulp. Mud daubers, on the other hand, are solitary wasps and make their tubes out of mud.
Wasp venom releases pheromones that trigger others’ aggression. When they’re triggered, they quickly swarm. Even solitary wasps call for back-up in that way. This also happens when other individuals or groups of various types of wasps try to invade their nests. Because of this, most other animals instinctively avoid nests.
When Wasps Sting
First and most importantly, unlike bees, the different types of wasps in New Jersey can sting repeatedly. If you’re stung on your face or neck, you may need to seek medical treatment. Call 911 if you experience side effects such as giddiness, dizziness, swelling, nausea or excruciating pain following a sting. Typically, stings wear off after 24 hours but if you experience any of the symptoms mentioned above, it could lead to a fatal anaphylactic shock. Even if you don’t have an allergic reaction to one sting, keep in mind that somewhere between 30 and 40 stings can be fatal.
If you don’t have any of the above reactions, you can easily treat your sting with a deodorant that contains aluminum. You can also use something like peppermint essential oil or anything else that has a cooling effect.
As gross as this is, they’re still capable of stinging shortly after they pass on. This is because the venom still pulsates for a short period of time even after it dies. So if you find a dead one in your home, we wouldn’t recommend picking it up without something like a work glove and a paper towel.
All About Wasps in New Jersey
No matter the type of wasp, never swat at a wasp or near its nest. Also, unless it’s abandoned, never try to take out a nest on your own. Chances are, it will end badly for you. If you do find yourself near an active nest, stay calm and back away slowly. The best thing you can do then is call us as soon as possible.
These wasps’ nests are almost never active for more than one lifecycle. Once the wasps that built it die off, the fertilized queen almost never returns to it. The only exceptions are very large nests. Even so, that’s only if the winter is very mild and the main food source is still nearby.
If you’re planning to go on an outdoor picnic, be careful to put out only what you’re going to eat at that moment. Wasps love fruit and your food as much as you do.
Experts warn that there is such a thing as a “drunk” worker wasp. If one happens to get hold of a piece of fermented fruit, it can get drunk on it. When they are, the different types of wasps can be even more bold and aggressive than usual.
More Interesting Facts
Various types of wasps who are social are the ones that have colonies made up of queens, drones (or males) and workers (sterile females). As with bees, the only job of the drones is to mate with the queen. Once they do, they die shortly afterward. Workers’ jobs are to forage for food and help to feed the larvae. The fertilized queen is the only one who survives the winter. As soon as all the others die off, she goes into hibernation. Once the spring weather comes around, she lays the first dozen eggs, which are the first wave of workers. She does all of the foraging and feeding until they become adults.
One way that the wasp differs from bees is by their narrow waist, which is called a petiole. It separates their abdomen area from their thoraxes. Different types of wasps come in a variety of colors from yellow to brown. The brighter colored ones are usually the wasps that sting.
Aside from the continuous stinging ability, there are a few other ways in which they differ from bees. They don’t make honey or store food. Even though some do help pollinate, they don’t collect pollen. Bees drink liquid while wasps actually chew food.
Wasp Life: Venom and Habits
Wasp venom contains several different ingredients. The primary one being protein, which is what many people have the allergic reaction to. It also contains serotonin, histamine and kinin. It’s the histamine and kinin that makes the sting painful. The latter helps to slow muscle contractions, lowers blood pressure and increases capillary absorption. That’s why it’s so effective at killing prey.
The different types of wasps’ castes within a colony have varied lifespans. In some species the workers have the shortest for only up to 22 days. The drones have about a month to live or close to it. Finally, the queens usually live for a full year from the time that they hatch.
Like with bees, the queen wasp is usually bigger than the workers. There are two purposes for this. First, the queens are the ones that lay all the eggs. Second, they have to have a lot of fat stored for winter hibernation. As a result, they receive twice as much food as the workers and drones.
No matter which type of wasp you see, they all make excellent fliers. The workers fly for hundreds of meters while searching for food. Most queens can fly hundreds of kilometers when searching for a place to nest. Their wings are made out of chitin, which is basically an extension of their skeletons covered by veins. Their wings can make up to 247 beats per second!
What Do Different Types of Wasps Eat?
Depending on which wasp species you’re dealing with, not only do they like sweet treats, but they also prey on invertebrates such as spiders, ants, flies, caterpillars and even bees. This is the majority of what’s fed to the larvae. Even though they don’t make honey, some do collect honeydew by siphoning the sap directly from the tree. They do that by inserting their mouth parts into the trunk of the tree. In doing so, they reduce the wax-like droplets to almost pure sugar. Since they tend to reduce the sap in a tree by 90 percent for a good part of the year, they compete with different types of wasps that also feed off of it.
One interesting fact about the workers is that they literally can’t digest much of the food that they get. As a result, most of it’s passed on to the nest workers and given to the larvae or the queen. The nest workers then wait for the larvae to release their pre-digested saliva, or “soup”, and that’s what establishes the worker-larvae bond. The queens produce a pheromone that shuts down the workers’ fertility so that their behavior will stay focused and regulated.
Yes, there are some animals that do eat wasps. Those include dragonflies, centipedes and robber flies. Some species of birds and mammals do as well. In parts of Britain, badgers destroy whole nests to get a small buffet from the combs. Weasels and mice also like to diet on early stage nesters.
Call Kapture for All Types of Wasps
The wasp does a lot of good outdoors. However, if one gets trapped indoors or happens to build a nest in or near home, the situation can turn very dangerous very quickly. It means that these different types of wasps are in a competition with you that neither you nor they understand. As a result, aggression can quickly become mutual and it can turn into a painful medical emergency for you and death for the wasp.
Again, please don’t try to remove an active nest on your own. Let us take care of that. If you have any reason to believe that you’re having an issue with a wasp or a nest, please contact us today.