All wasps belong to the suborder of Hymenopterastinging insects. We often see them in home gardens and try to avoid close contact. After all, do not want to be stung! Now imagine that giant wasps are circling above you. Of course, their size is not from an eagle, but they are nevertheless larger than their relatives.
Judge for yourself, the length of a normal wasp reaches 10millimeters, wingspan of about 20 mm. Wasp Scolium - giant compared to her! The size of her body varies from 30 to 100 millimeters, the amplitude of the wings in flight is fixed from 30 to 60 millimeters.
Habitats for large wasps are land areas with a tropical and subtropical climate. On the territory of the Russian Federation there are about 25 species of these insects.
Description
Giant wasps are usually black and yellow.A female has a dark abdomen, which seems to be overwhelmed with transverse yellow badges. Her wings gleam with the soft color of onion peel with mother-of-pearl shine. The female is usually larger and more aggressive than the male.
Scollies are considered predatory insects, and it is always interesting to observe them. They begin their hunt by choosing a victim. As it can be rhinoceros beetles, bronzovki, tree flies.
Выбрав наиболее удачный момент, гигантские осы sting their prey in the abdominal nerve center. The victim loses the ability to move. After all, the sting of insects, like a sophisticated surgical instrument, paralyzes the motor activity of the prey. Then the wasp-cholium quietly lays the egg in the abdomen of the prey. What happens next?
Next step
Soon the hatched larva starts to eatbeetle entrails. It lasts for about 2 weeks. As a result, only the rind remains. Then it is time to weave a cocoon. It is curious that the baby-cholium correctly distributes all the threads. The whole process takes about a day.
The result is a cocoon in the form of an ellipse.Moreover, if the female was weaving, then its length is about 26 millimeters. In males, it is shorter - 17-18 millimeters. The larvae spend the winter in this cocoon. In the spring, adult individuals emerge who go outside in search of food and breeding. Giant wasps are happy to absorb floral nectar.
In parallel, in adults,pairing. Not much time is allotted for love games. After mating, the female individual carefully digs a kind of mink for future prey. There are no corridors, entrances and exits. After all, female Scolia chooses a place for mink, which is never used by someone. When the wasp leaves the hole, it closes with lumps of earth. During the summer, the uterus is engaged in laying eggs and preparing food for the larvae.
Эти насекомые обитают в Средней Азии, Крыму, в North Africa and southern regions of Russia. Giant wasps in the Moscow region - a rare phenomenon. Most likely, it may be due to the fact that some fan of exotic living creatures has delivered the winged ones. In this case, wasps can exist only in the conditions created for them. After all, the cold ground of the Moscow land is destructive for the larvae. Scolii, like other species of large wasps, are listed in the Red Book.
Siberian giant wasps
The hornet is another major representative of this.kind of. He stands out for his aspen waist, thin transparent wings and powerful jaw. These insects have the brightest coloring. In addition to yellow and black, they are orange and brown.
There are more than 20 species of hornets.Their habitat is the Urals, east of China, Ukraine. They can also be found in the northern part of Russia, where the locals call them "Siberian sparrows." They prefer to live in the forests or choose lonely hills and other hills. Like other insects, giant wasp hornets live in colonies in nests. They are arranged horizontally, in the form of numerous honeycombs.
Life
The construction of their home wasps areresponsibly. To begin with, the material is harvested - wood fibers are chewed, wetting them abundantly with saliva. The nest itself consists of 7-8 cells. In each of them you can count about 600 cells. Where hornets fasten their nests? Most often in attics, under the roofs of abandoned houses, in birdhouses and in hollows of trees. Sometimes insects settle in the holes of small animals under the ground.
In addition to nectar, giant wasps feed on sap.trees, ripe fruit and berries. They, like the Scoliii, are predators that easily deal with grasshoppers, locusts and flies. The most important is the uterus, which survived the winter. In the spring, she wakes up, looks for a place for a nest, works on the honeycomb and releases the first larvae of the first larvae to light. Those, in turn, turn into working hornets.
Patience and work
Who do you think falls into the real group?hard workers among insects? These are ordinary and giant wasps! Photos eloquently transmits their hard work. Hornets guard the home, feed the uterus and new larvae. As you can see, the giant wasps have a fairly well-coordinated work. This is a good basis for the expansion of the family.
New rows of honeycombs line up and the nest becomesmore. It is noteworthy that the working hornets do not produce offspring, as they are fruitless. But by the beginning of autumn females appear in the family, which are capable of breeding. After mating with the drones, the wasps hide to wait out the long winter. The old queen and the males who have fulfilled their functions perish. And the overwintering female in the spring re-creates a new family.
Species of hornets
All these insect species have similarities between themselves and other representatives of the wasps. The most beautiful of all species is the eastern hornet. He has a bright red-brown color.
It is the only species that is resistant to dry.steppe climate. In addition, the female Eastern hornet has surpassed all the impressive size in length - 24-30 centimeters! Insects live in the mountains of Sri Lanka, Japan, China and Korea.
Locals call them "tiger bees."There are absolutely black hornets. By the way, this species is often taken as the basis for creating computer insects for shooting in art paintings. In them, the giant killer wasps often take the lead.
In reality, black hornets inhabit the Chinese,Korean, Indian and Thai lands. Also found on Russian territory: in the Amur region, Transbaikalia and Primorye. This species is notable for the fact that the female black hornet does not raise a family. She simply kills the uterus in a flock of hornets of another species and takes her colony under her leadership.
Benefit and harm
All giant wasps are kindenvironmental health workers. For example, scoliosis destroy insects that harm agricultural crops. It is known that reed colonies of hymenoptera are taken to reed fields to fight rhinoceros beetles. Also, large wasps eat tree flies and bugs, which destroy the roots of fruit trees. In addition, insects amicably pollinate plants. Despite the fact that large species of wasps are beneficial, yet their presence near the house of a person is contraindicated.
First, all insects look dreadfully behindaccount of its size. Secondly, wasps have a highly toxic poison, which is deadly to humans. Children and individuals suffering from allergies are at risk. Especially dangerous are multiple bites.
A large amount of poison gets under the skin of a person.and there is intoxication of the body. The victim may experience headache, nausea and chills. In severe cases, a person has convulsions and death. Therefore, admire the unusual wasps only from afar!
