Get down to business! New Popular Science Books: The Wasp is the Clever Aunt of the Bee

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In summer, there is nothing better than eating outdoors. But before the fried food has been served, the yellow and black squadron hums and fights for meat: wasps nervously dance over the plate and wait for the right moment to land on Hamm and eat. Yes, they can bite off whole pieces the size of their heads. And if you do not want, then they threaten you with a horn. It is no coincidence that wasps rank between mosquitoes and larvae on the scale of popularity.

“Wasps represent the monster of discontent and anger,” writes Welshwoman Seyrian Sumner (48) in her recently published book Wasps—Reconciliation. As the name suggests, the Professor of Behavioral Ecology at University College London does not present a wasp moth with his 629-gram tome. Rather, she wants to convince the readership of her fascination with wasps through scientific facts and personal anecdotes – and the British are very good at it.

“I fell in love with wasps because of their extraordinary diversity and fascinating behaviour,” writes Sumner. While there are only 22,000 species of bees in the world, there are over 100,000 species of wasps. Insects have been around for about 479 million years; about 240 million years ago, the first wasps became addicted to meat; the first stinging species appeared about 190 million years ago; and as recently as 124 million years ago, all bees were wasps. “One day a wasp forgot how to hunt and became addicted to pollen, and that’s how bees were born,” Sumner said.

She writes that this is easy for the bees because their “prey”, the flower, does not move, cannot fly or hide. Wasps, on the other hand, are rarely given a silent schnitzel, they mainly prey on other insects. Sumner: “Hunting for mobile and hidden sources of protein requires cognitive effort and requires more involvement of the senses.” The British biologist John Lubbock (1834-1913) showed how this affects the intellect: he planted insects in an open, lying bottle upside down on the sunny side – while the bees flew stupidly towards the glass, the wasps quickly found a shady exit.

The wasp is not only a smart aunt of the bee, it is also a relative of the ant – all three belong to the Hymenoptera order. And all three are social beings, organizing themselves into states. But while beekeepers grow and care for bee colonies, wasp nests are up to the fire brigade. Wasps are excellent lice killers: thanks to their sense of smell, they can track down pests even where they hide and lay their eggs in them. “Pest control with parasitoid wasps has been revolutionary in agriculture,” writes Sumner.

Source: Blick