16 replies to this topic

[Connectimyrmex]

Hello!
I was checking the weather forecast and I couldn't help but noticed that the wind speeds would be TWENTY MILES PER HOUR OR ABOVE... WOW
As you may know, this time of year is pretty crucial for wasps and bees, because they have their mating flights and find places to hibernate. If you happen to be living in a place with lots of wind, such as tomorrow for New England, keep an eye out for wasps and bees clinging the walls of buildings, and lend them a helping hand! Most of the time, they are perfectly capable of flying in strong winds, but they often need a bit of a boost. Providing some honey or sugar water can go a long way for a tired paper wasp or bumblebee!

[T.C.]

Not many people here care about wasps. It's you, myself and dermy. I or dermy actually haven't kept them in  forever.

[Skwiggledork]

I care about them in a hands off / from a distance kind of way. lol

[Antking117]

Bees id help, wasps can all burn.

[T.C.]

Bees id help, wasps can all burn.

Well, I think all of them are cool. I enjoy observing any social insect. I am actually extremely allergic to bee's and wasps however. They could be fatal for me, and I unfortunately don't have an EpiPen because my doctor claims it's "uncecessary." I guess we will have to wait to see if I die in the middle of the woods from a bee sting if it turns into a lawsuit.

[LC3]

Bees id help, wasps can all burn.

Wasps are pretty important predators, especially for caterpillars. 

[Salmon]

Bees id help, wasps can all burn.

Ants and bees are just two families of wasps,

[Connectimyrmex]

Bees id help, wasps can all burn.

Are you sure? If you kill wasps, gypsy moths and other invasive caterpillars would have their populations explode and wipe out all sort of vegetation.

 

 

Bees id help, wasps can all burn.

Ants and bees are just two families of wasps,

 

Exactly.

[ctantkeeper]

Wasps (both social and solitary) play important ecological roles such as pollination and regulating the population sizes various economically important insects such as certain caterpillars and disease spreading dipterans. As stated earlier, Ants and bees are very closely related to wasps. I find the fact that many people consider all wasps to be these terrible, destructive creatures to be largely unfounded and generally very frustrating. We depend on them to keep our ecosystems in check. Some even make honey for crying out loud lol!!!!

Edited by ctantkeeper, October 24 2017 - 1:37 PM.

[gcsnelling]

Any bees or wasps you see this time of the year are about done, mating flights long over with. Although I am a fan of the bunch of them there is little you can do to lengthen the life of any you come across.

[Connectimyrmex]

Okay, but I've been seeing Vespula germanica and Polistes fuscatus mating outside of my house and in my school

[Connectimyrmex]

Also, people always complain that Yellow Jackets and Hornets steal their hive's honey. Well if that's the case, picture what the bees are thinking!

Also, the majority of the Yellow Jacket complaints come from the U.S.A, where the European Honeybee is introduced (and could even be considered invasive because it steals the food resources of solitary bees and bumblebees) and most of the Yellow Jackets are native.

[Canadian anter]

Well, as someone who really likes raising lepidoptera and having sleeves raided as well as having all of the wild larvae being killed by Polistes, beneficial though they may be, they can all burn.

[Mettcollsuss]

Not many people here care about wasps. It's you, myself and dermy. I or dermy actually haven't kept them in  forever.

I like them, just not as much as I love ants. Also, I'm needle-phobic, so the sting kind of scares me, but I will definitely help one if I see it struggling.

[Connectimyrmex]

For those who support the protection of wasps, you are all good people.

Note: Yellow jackets tend to do the gaster twitch (sign of aggression in Polistes, Bombus, Apis, and Solenopsis) when they breathe or drink fluids. They tend to be unwilling to sting unless you step on a nest.

[Antking117]

Okay, let me reset this. Bees in my yard I will help. Wasps in my yard shall literally burn. Wasps are very cool to watch and I do want to keep them, but I do not like the fact that they hate me for mowing.

[Connectimyrmex]

That means your'e literally running over a subterranean nest.