When colder temperatures arrive, many wonder what happens to the buzzing insects common during warmer months. Wasps, like many other insects, have developed specific survival strategies to endure winter. Understanding their annual cycle reveals that only a select few individuals from a colony typically survive to see the next spring. This survival hinges on a biological process that ensures the continuation of the species.
Wasp Life Cycle and Seasonal Behavior
Wasp colonies operate on an annual cycle, beginning each spring and concluding with winter. A typical social wasp colony consists of a single egg-laying queen, numerous sterile female worker wasps, and male wasps, called drones. Workers forage for food, care for the young, and build and maintain the nest throughout warmer seasons. As autumn approaches and food sources diminish, the existing queen reaches the end of her life, and the colony’s social structure breaks down.
In late summer or early autumn, the colony produces a final generation: new queens and fertile male wasps. These new queens and males leave their original nest to mate. Only these newly fertilized queens survive the winter to establish future colonies, ensuring the species’ continuation.
How Queen Wasps Survive Winter
Newly fertilized queen wasps prepare for winter by entering a dormant state called diapause, distinct from true hibernation. During diapause, the queen’s metabolic rate significantly slows, allowing her to conserve energy and survive without food for months. Some queen wasps even produce a natural antifreeze, such as glycerol, to prevent ice crystals from forming within their cells, enabling them to endure extremely cold temperatures.
To protect themselves from cold and predators, queen wasps seek sheltered overwintering locations. Common sites include under tree bark, in hollow logs, within building crevices or wall voids, attics, sheds, garages, woodpiles, or old rodent burrows underground. These spots provide insulation and stability, minimizing the risk of freezing or disturbance. While many queens enter diapause, a significant number do not survive the winter due to factors like extreme cold, starvation, or predation.
The Fate of Worker and Male Wasps
Unlike newly fertilized queens, the vast majority of the wasp colony—including all worker wasps, male wasps, and the old queen—do not survive the winter. As temperatures drop and food sources like nectar and insects dwindle, these wasps cannot sustain themselves.
The existing wasp nest becomes abandoned as the colony declines. This natural process ensures that only mated queens endure, ready to initiate new colonies when conditions become favorable again.
What Happens When Winter Ends
As spring approaches and temperatures consistently rise, typically around 10°C, the overwintering queen wasp emerges from her dormant state. Her first priority is to find a suitable location to establish a new nest and forage for sustenance. She will not reuse an old nest from the previous year.
The queen begins constructing a small, golf-ball-sized nest using chewed wood fibers mixed with her saliva to create a papery material. Once complete, she lays her first batch of eggs. These eggs hatch into worker wasps, who then take over nest building and foraging, allowing the queen to focus on laying more eggs to expand the new colony. This cycle ensures the continuation of the wasp population each year.