Wasps are a diverse group of insects. While many people associate wasp nests with a single queen, a queen is not universally present in all wasp species.
The Queen’s Central Role in Social Wasp Nests
For social wasps like yellow jackets, hornets, and paper wasps, a queen is the primary figure of the nest. A fertilized queen, often the only survivor of winter, initiates the new colony in spring. She selects a suitable location and begins constructing the initial cells of the nest, which house her first generation of offspring.
The queen is typically the sole reproducer within the colony, primarily focused on egg-laying. She lays eggs that develop into the first workers, who expand the nest and forage for food. During this initial phase, the queen also cares for the first brood, providing food and protection until enough workers emerge to take over these duties. She also uses chemical signals, known as pheromones, to regulate colony behavior and suppress reproductive development in worker wasps.
The Colony’s Lifecycle and the Queen’s Influence
As the social wasp colony grows, sterile female workers assume responsibility for nest construction, foraging for resources, and tending to developing larvae. This division of labor allows the queen to focus almost exclusively on producing more eggs, increasing the colony’s population. Her continued egg production drives the rapid expansion of the nest throughout the summer.
Towards the end of the season, the queen shifts her egg-laying, producing new queens and male wasps. These reproductive individuals leave the nest to mate. As winter approaches, the old queen often dies, and the colony declines, with newly fertilized queens seeking sheltered locations to overwinter. If a social wasp queen dies prematurely, the colony’s growth typically ceases, and workers may begin laying unfertilized eggs that develop into males, leading to the eventual collapse of the colony.
Diversity in Wasp Lifestyles: Not All Nests Have a Queen
The concept of a “queen” is specific to social wasp species, which are a smaller fraction of the overall wasp population. The vast majority of wasp species are solitary, meaning they do not live in colonies. Each female solitary wasp is individually responsible for building her own nest, laying her own eggs, and provisioning them.
Solitary wasp nests often consist of burrows in the ground, tunnels in wood, or structures made of mud, unlike the multi-layered paper nests of social wasps. These females typically paralyze prey, such as spiders or caterpillars, and place them within nest cells as food for their developing larvae. Parasitic wasps do not construct nests at all. Instead, they lay their eggs on or inside other insects or arthropods, utilizing the host as a food source for their offspring.