When late summer arrives, terraces are frequently visited by wasps. All looking for the last sips of cola. Resulting in panicky arm waving and hastily sliding chairs. After all, a shot from the striped buzzer is no fun. But what happens after the sting?
On the hunt for sugar
The wasps that we encounter on the terrace in August and September are the German wasp and the common wasp. They are popularly called lemonade wasps because of their weakness for sweets. But why do we see them so often during this period?
This is because they have little to eat during these months, Aglaia Bouma knows. She is an entomologist (insect scientist) at Naturalis Biodiversity Center. The lemonade wasps catch flies, caterpillars and other insects all summer long to feed their larvae.
The larvae in turn excrete sweet fluid, which the wasps find delicious. ‘But at the end of the summer the nest dies. The queen stops laying eggs and there are no more larvae to feed. So no more sweets either. They then look for it in nectar from flowers. Or on our terraces. And hey, maybe they deserve a sweet bite after their hard work.’
Why wasps sting?
Always in defence, says Bouma. ‘As soon as the media shouts that wasps attacked someone, I have to sigh. They don’t do that at all. They’re either defending the nest or themselves.’
Yet every now and then it seems as if a wasp is targeting you out of nowhere. Coincidence, or not? ‘If you’re unlucky, someone else swatted at her on the terrace and the animal landed on you in panic. She just stands out in your eyes. But that’s never the case.’ According to Bouma, wasps are not interested in people at all. ‘But in our ice cream.’ Still afraid of being stung? This is how you prevent it.
What does a wasp colony look like?
Most wasps in a colony are workers. These are the queen’s non-fertile daughters. They build the nest, collect food and care for the offspring. There are also some drones in the nest, male wasps that mate with the queen. Furthermore, the drones don’t lift a finger. They do not participate in building and leave the defense of the nest to the workers. And maybe that’s a good thing. The poor creatures have no stinger or poison gland.
Does a wasp die if it stings?
No, says Bouma. ‘Discharging poison does not harm the wasp. After the sting, she pulls out her stinger and continues flying. ‘How many times can she sting? Until her toxic bladder is empty, then she has to refuel again.
This is different with honey bees. They live in a colony with so many workers that it doesn’t matter much if one dies, says Bouma. ‘When a honey bee stings your skin, the sting remains attached by barbs. The bee’s abdomen tears loose and its venomous bladder gets stuck in your skin. It continues to pump poison, even after the bee’s death.’ And that is useful, because it means that the attacker of the bee’s nest (the stung wretch) will have pain for longer. And the nest remains protected.
Both the honey bee and the social wasp (wasps that live in colonies) have strong family ties. ‘The moment they sting, a pheromone is released so that nurses can smell that there is a lot of panic somewhere. They are called in and provide reinforcement,” says Bouma. A kind of army.
Are you getting stung anyway? This is what you need to do in case of a wasp sting.
