Vespid
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- For the alien race allied with the Tau from the Warhammer 40,000 game, see Vespid (Warhammer 40,000)
{{Taxobox
| color = pink
| name = Vespid wasps
| image = Vespula_0078.JPG
| image_width = 250px
| image_caption = Southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa) queen
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = Arthropoda
| classis = Insecta
| ordo = Hymenoptera
| subordo = Apocrita
| superfamilia = Vespoidea
| familia = Vespidae
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision =
Vespula (yellowjackets)
Vespa (hornets)
Polistes (paper wasps)
(etc.)
}}
The vespidae are a family of wasps, including all social wasps and some solitary wasps. Each social wasp colony includes a queen and a number of sterile workers. Colonies usually only last one year, dying at the onset of winter. New queens and males (drones) are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queens hibernate over winter in cracks or other sheltered locations. The nests are constructed out of plant fibres, chewed to form a sort of paper.
The nest pictured below was made by either the bald-faced hornet (American), Dolichovespula maculata (sometimes classified as Vespula maculata), or the aerial yellowjacket, Vespula arenaria. The wasp pictured at right is a yellowjacket queen, Vespula squamosa.
Image:Cocoon 2 750px.jpg Image:Cocoon 3 750px.jpg
See also
- German Wasp, Vespula germanica
- Common Wasp, Vespula vulgarisde:Faltenwespen