The Life Cycle of Paper Wasps

Beginning a Colony

• Solitary queen paper wasps begin a colony by seeking out a location where they can building a small paper nest. The nest is composed of open cells with eggs affixed to the bottom. When the eggs hatch, some of the young will be females, which will then begin helping the queen build the nest and care for the new larvae. While the queen raises the first set of larvae on her own, she will restrict herself to laying eggs as the workers will take over building duties and larvae care.

Types

• The paper wasp species includes three different types of caste. Each caste is designed for a specific task and role in the colony. Queens select a nesting site and lay eggs, while sterile worker females will build the nest, tend the larvae and defend the queen. Males mate with queens in the nest and die before winter. While the queens and the workers are similar in appearance, the females who are going to be queens will not work on the nest or feed the young.

Time Frame

• During the winter, the fertilized queens will hibernate in piles of wood or in holes. When they emerge from hibernation in the spring, they begin nests and lay eggs. Some of the eggs will become future queens and mate with the males in the nest. During the late summer, the founding queen, the males and the sterile females will all die, leaving the fertilized queens to enter hibernation.

Stages of Growth

• After the egg hatches, a paper wasp larvae or grub emerges. It remains in its open cell in the nest, and the adult workers will feed it and protect it. The larvae will spin a silk cocoon in the cell and change into an adult, a process known as pupating.

Food

• The adult workers feed the young grubs prechewed caterpillars or flies, while the adults themselves will drink nectar. The adult paper wasp&'s habit of killing herbivorous caterpillars can make it a benefit in the garden.