Wasp Facts

About the wasp

Yellowjackets and hornets are the most familiar wasps. They live together in nests with an egg-laying queen and workers that do not breed. Most wasp species, though, live alone, with each female breeding on her own. Females usually have an egg-laying tube, and in stinging wasps that tube has turned into a stinger for defense or catching prey.

Wasps fill many roles. Some hunt, some pollinate, and cuckoo wasps lay eggs in other wasps' nests. Many solitary wasps lay eggs on or inside other insects, and the larvae end up killing the host. Since they attack nearly every pest insect, wasps help gardeners and farmers control pests such as whitefly on tomatoes.

Did you know?

• Bees and ants evolved from wasp ancestors.
• Sawflies look a bit like wasps but belong to a separate suborder.
• Cuckoo wasps sneak their eggs into nests built by other wasps.