| Yellowjacket | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vespula germanica | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Vespidae |
| Subfamily: | Vespinae |
| Genera known as yellowjackets | |
Yellowjacket oryellow jacket is thecommon name in North America for predatory socialwasps of thegeneraVespula andDolichovespula. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of these are black and yellow like theeastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) and theaerial yellowjacket (Dolichovespula arenaria); some are black and white like thebald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata). Some have anabdomen with a red background color instead of black. They can be identified by their distinctive markings, their occurrence only in colonies, and a characteristic, rapid, side-to-side flight pattern prior to landing. All females are capable ofstinging. Yellowjackets are important predators of pest insects.[1]
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Yellowjackets may be confused with other wasps, such ashornets andpaper wasps such asPolistes dominula. A typical yellowjacket worker is about 12 mm (0.47 in) long, with alternating bands on the abdomen; the queen is larger, about 19 mm (0.75 in) long (the different patterns on their abdomens help separate various species).
Yellowjackets are sometimes mistakenly called "bees" (as in "meat bees"), given that they are similar in size and general coloration tohoney bees. In contrast to honey bees, yellowjackets have yellow or white markings, are not covered with tan-brown dense hair on their bodies, and do not have the flattened, hairy pollen-carrying hind legs characteristic of honey bees (although they are capable of pollination).[2]
Yellowjackets have lance-like stingers with small barbs, and typically sting repeatedly,[1] though occasionally a stinger becomes lodged and pulls free of the wasp's body; thevenom, like mostbee and wasp venoms, is primarily dangerous to only those humans who areallergic or are stung many times. All species have yellow or white on their faces. Their mouthparts are well-developed with strongmandibles for capturing and chewing insects, withprobosces for sucking nectar, fruit, and other juices. Yellowjackets build nests in trees, shrubs, or in protected places such as inside man-made structures, or in soil cavities, tree stumps, mouse burrows, etc. They build them from wood fiber they chew into a paper-like pulp. Many other insects exhibitprotective mimicry of aggressive, stinging yellowjackets; in addition to numerousbees andwasps (Müllerian mimicry), the list includes someflies,moths, andbeetles (Batesian mimicry).
Yellowjackets' closest relatives, the hornets, closely resemble them but have larger heads, seen especially in the large distance from the eyes to the back of the head.[1]
Yellowjackets are social hunters living in colonies containing workers, queens, and males (drones). Colonies are annual with only inseminated queensoverwintering. Fertilized queens are found in protected places such as in hollow logs, stumps, under bark,leaf litter, soil cavities, and man-made structures. Queens emerge during the warm days of late spring or early summer, select a nest site, and build a small paper nest in which they lay eggs. After eggs hatch from the 30 to 50 brood cells, the queen feeds the young larvae for about 18 to 20 days.Larvaepupate, then emerge later as small, infertile females called workers. Workers in the colony take over caring for the larvae, feeding them with chewed-up meat or fruit. By midsummer, the first adult workers emerge and assume the tasks of nest expansion, foraging for food, care of the queen and larvae, and colony defense.
From this time until her death in the autumn, the queen remains inside the nest, laying eggs. The colony then expands rapidly, reaching a maximum size of 4,000–5,000[3] workers and a nest of 10,000–15,000 cells in late summer. The speciesV. squamosa, in the southern part of its range, may build much larger perennial colonies populated by dozens of queens, tens of thousands of workers, and hundreds of thousands of cells. At peak size, reproductive cells are built with new males and queens produced. Adult reproductives remain in the nest fed by the workers. New queens build up fat reserves to overwinter. Adult reproductives leave the parent colony to mate. Males die quickly after mating, while fertilized queens seek protected places to overwinter. Parent colony workers dwindle, usually leaving the nest to die, as does the founding queen. Abandoned nests rapidly decompose and disintegrate during the winter. They can persist as long as they are kept dry, but are rarely used again. In the spring, the cycle is repeated; weather in the spring is the most important factor in colony establishment.
The adult yellowjacket diet consists primarily of sugars andcarbohydrates, such as fruits, flower nectar, and tree sap. Larvae feed on proteins derived from insects, meats, and fish. Workers collect, chew, and condition such foods before feeding them to the larvae. Many of the insects collected by the workers are considered pest species, making the yellowjacket beneficial toagriculture.[4] Larvae, in return, secrete a sugary substance for workers to eat; this exchange is a form oftrophallaxis. As insect sources of food diminish in late summer, larvae produce less for workers to eat. Foraging workers pursue sources of sugar outside the nest including ripe fruits and human garbage.[4]
Dolichovespula species such as the aerial yellowjacket,D. arenaria, and thebald-faced hornet, tend to create exposed aerial nests. This feature is shared with some true hornets, which has led to some naming confusion.
Vespula species, in contrast, build concealed nests, usually underground.
Yellowjacket nests usually last for only one season, dying off in winter. The nest is started by a single queen, called the "foundress". Typically, a nest can reach the size of a basketball by the end of a season. In parts of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and southern coastal areas of the United States, the winters are mild enough to allow nest overwintering. Nests that survive multiple seasons become massive and often possess multiple egg-laying queens.[5][6]
TheGerman yellowjacket (V. germanica) first appeared in Ohio in 1975, and has now become the dominant species over the eastern yellowjacket. It is bold and aggressive and can sting repeatedly and painfully. It will mark aggressors and pursue them. It is often confused withPolistes dominula, anotherinvasive species in the United States, due to their very similar pattern. The German yellowjacket builds its nests in cavities—not necessarily underground—with the peak worker population in temperate areas between 1000 and 3000 individuals between May and August. Each colony produces several thousand new reproductives after this point through November.
The eastern yellowjacket builds its nests underground, also with the peak worker population between 1000 and 3000 individuals, similar to the German yellowjacket. Nests are built entirely of wood fiber and are completely enclosed except for a small entrance at the bottom. The color of the paper is highly dependent on the source of the wood fibers used. The nests contain multiple, horizontal tiers of combs within. Larvae hang within the combs.[citation needed]
In the southeastern United States, where southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa) nests may persist through the winter,colony sizes of this species may reach 100,000 adult wasps.[5] The same kind of nest expansion has occurred inHawaii with the invasive western yellowjacket (V. pensylvanica).[7]
The yellowjacket's most visible place in US sporting culture is as amascot, most famously with theGeorgia Tech Yellow Jackets, represented by the mascotBuzz. Other college and university examples includeAllen University, theAmerican International College,Baldwin-Wallace University,Black Hills State University,Cedarville University,Defiance College,Graceland University,Howard Payne University,LeTourneau University,Montana State University Billings,Northern Vermont University-Lyndon,Randolph-Macon College,University of Rochester,University of Wisconsin–Superior,West Virginia State University, andWaynesburg University.[citation needed]
Though not specified by the team, the mascot of theColumbus Blue Jackets, named "Stinger," closely resembles a yellowjacket. In the years since its original yellow incarnation, the mascot's color has been changed to light green, seemingly combining the real insect's yellow and the team's blue.[8]
In the United Kingdom therugby union teamWasps RFC traditionally used a yellowjacket as their club emblem.
TheMarvel Comics characterYellowjacket, who is based on the insect, is one of the various identities adopted byHank Pym, who is most commonly known asAnt-Man. In addition to being able to fly, emit bio-electrictry inspired by a yellowjacket's sting, and shrink down to insect size, Yellowjacket can also control the insect and uses them to aid him in various ways.
The television series,Yellowjackets, features a girls’ soccer team which gets stranded in the wilderness and resorts to extreme measures to survive. Their mascot is a Yellowjacket, and the theme song features images of the insect as well.
Note that yellowjacket is often spelled as two words (yellow jacket) in popular culture and even in some dictionaries. The proper entomological spelling, according to theEntomological Society of America, is as a single word (yellowjacket).[9]