The Vespidae are a large (nearly 5000 species), diverse,

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

family of

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

s, including nearly all the known

eusocial Eusociality ( Greek 'good' and social) is the highest level of organization of sociality. It is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations wit ...

wasps (such as ''

Polistes fuscatus ''Polistes fuscatus'', whose common name is the dark or northern paper wasp, is widely found in eastern North America, from southern Canada through the southern United States. It often nests around human development. However, it greatly prefers a ...

'', ''

Vespa orientalis The Oriental hornet (''Vespa orientalis'') is a social insect species of the family Vespidae. It can be found in Southwest Asia, Northeast Africa, the island of Madagascar (but no reports have been made of its presence on the island for many year ...

'', and ''

Vespula germanica ''Vespula germanica'', known colloquially as the European wasp, German wasp, or German yellowjacket, is a species of wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, native to Europe, Northern Africa, and temperate Asia. It has spread and become ...

'') and many solitary wasps. Each social wasp

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

includes a

queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

and a number of female workers with varying degrees of sterility relative to the queen. In temperate social species, colonies usually last only one year, dying at the onset of winter. New queens and males (drones) are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queens hibernate over winter in cracks or other sheltered locations. The nests of most species are constructed out of mud, but polistines and vespines use plant fibers, chewed to form a sort of paper (also true of some stenogastrines). Many species are pollen vectors contributing to the

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or bu ...

of several plants, being potential or even effective pollinators, while others are notable predators of pest insect species, and a few species are

invasive pests An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species t ...

. The subfamilies

Polistinae The Polistinae is a subfamily of eusocial wasps belonging to the family Vespidae. They are closely related to the wasps (“yellowjackets” as they are called in North America) and true hornets of the subfamily Vespinae, containing four tribes ...

and

Vespinae The subfamily Vespinae contains the largest and best-known groups of eusocial wasps, including true hornets (the genus ''Vespa''), and the "yellowjackets" (genera ''Dolichovespula'' and ''Vespula''). The remaining genus, '' Provespa'', is a smal ...

are composed solely of

species, while the

Eumeninae Potter wasps (or mason wasps), the Eumeninae, are a cosmopolitan wasp group currently considered a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae. Mud dauber wasps, which also build their nests with m ...

Euparagiinae The Euparagiinae are a small subfamily of rare wasps in the family Vespidae containing a single extant genus '' Euparagia''. The group had a cosmopolitan distribution in past geological times extending back to the Early Cretaceous, but is now a ...

, Gayellinae,

Masarinae Pollen wasps, the Masarinae, are unusual wasps that are typically treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but have in the past sometimes been recognized as a separate family, "Masaridae", which also included the subfamilies Euparagiinae and Gayellin ...

and Zethinae are all

solitary Solitary is the state of being alone or in solitude. The term may refer to: * ''Solitary'' (album), 2008 album by Don Dokken * ''Solitary'' (2020 film), a British sci-fi thriller film * ''Solitary'' (upcoming film), an American drama film * "S ...

with the exception of a few communal and several subsocial species. The

Stenogastrinae The Stenogastrinae are a subfamily of social wasps included in the family Vespidae. They are sometimes called hover wasps owing to the particular hovering flight of some species. Their morphology and biology present interesting peculiarities. S ...

are facultatively eusocial, considering nests may have one or several adult females; in cases where the nest is shared by multiple females (typically, a mother and her daughters) there is reproductive division of labor and cooperative brood care. In the

and

, rather than consuming prey directly, prey are premasticated and fed to the larvae, which in return, produce a clear liquid (with high

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

content) for the adults to consume; the exact amino acid composition varies considerably among species, but it is considered to contribute substantially to adult nutrition. Fossils are known since

Aptian The Aptian is an age (geology), age in the geologic timescale or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early or Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), S ...

of the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

, with several described species from Cretaceous amber.

Gallery

File:European wasp white bg.jpg,

German wasp ''Vespula germanica'', known colloquially as the European wasp, German wasp, or German yellowjacket, is a species of wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, native to Europe, Northern Africa, and temperate Asia. It has spread and become ...

File:Cocoon 2 750px.jpg,

Median wasp The median wasp (''Dolichovespula media'') is a species of social wasp of the family Vespidae found throughout Europe and Asia. It builds aerial paper nests often in shrubs or trees, and occasionally under the eaves of buildings. It is most commo ...

nest File:Yellowjacket nest 2 sjh.JPG, ''

Polistes ''Polistes'' is a cosmopolitan genus of paper wasps and the only genus in the tribe Polistini. Vernacular names for the genus include umbrella wasps, coined by Walter Ebeling in 1975 to distinguish it from other types of paper wasp, in refer ...

'' nest File:Polistes carrying bit of wood.jpg, ''Polistes'' wasp carrying a bit of wood from an old rake handle File:Vespa tropica sec.jpg, ''

Vespa tropica ''Vespa tropica'', the greater banded hornet, is a tropical species of hornet found in Southern Asia, New Guinea and west Africa, and which has recently been discovered to be an invasive species on the Pacific island of Guam. It is a predator of ...

'' from India File:Wasp stripping wood.jpg, ''

Dolichovespula media The median wasp (''Dolichovespula media'') is a species of social wasp of the family Vespidae found throughout Europe and Asia. It builds aerial paper nests often in shrubs or trees, and occasionally under the eaves of buildings. It is most commo ...

'' (a European tree wasp) stripping wood from a fence for use in nest construction

References

External links

Evolutionary history of social behavior in VespidsStunning photographs of Vespidae (and other insects) in flightVespidae: Potter wasps; vespid wasps; social wasps; hornets; paper wasps; yellowjackets
{{Authority control Apocrita families