I am not a big fan of insects or spiders, but I absolutely loathe wasps. Fortunately, I have never been stung by one of these biyotches, but they love to hang around my carport this time of year. I hate always looking over my shoulder wondering if one of these things is behind me, and if it is, is it fixing to sting me? Anyway, wanted to see if there were any other wasp haters or people here that loathed other insects and/or spiders. Also, was hoping that an entomologist could tell me the good things that wasps do.
wasps, unlike most insect stings, get worse with successive stings. you don't build up resistance to their stings...each passing sting gets worse. i've been stung about 4 times...probably all of those times were my fault, except one. it's not much fun.
Don't be a pansy, they don't hurt that bad. Neither do scorpions. You want fun? Get smacked in the calf by a 5 foot rattlesnake. Or take a stingray barb in the leg (left a wicked-cool scar too). Now, my friend, THAT hurts.
Wasps are accomplished fliers and highly adapted to suit a variety of lifestyles. Some species can be incredibly small and others are large and boldly coloured. Two kinds of habits exist - social wasps and loners. The other two main ways to group them, are those that are parasitic and those that build communal nests and go hunting. Wasps actively use their venomous stings and can inflict ongoing stings to prey or predators in defence. In terms of habitats, wasps exploit a wide variety of places such as heathlands, forests, urban areas and deserts. Each species has its own special lifestyle and its own key set of interactions with other species. In the food chain, wasps are instrumental and play an amazingly diverse and functional role. Many wasps hunt insect larvae and play an important pest control service. Other wasps parasitise other insects and keep them under control by the wasp larvae feeding on the host. Some wasp species even parasitise other parasite wasps. Certain wasp species also play a pollination service to orchids. On the other side, wasps are preyed upon by some spiders and ants. The wasp's defences can be overcome by some predators.
Wasps help with the pollination of plants. They're like bees without the honey. But I'm not comfortable with the "purpose" of animals. I mean, really, what's OUR purpose? Animals have their own individual lives and their own individual purposes, just like us. We may not see it, but they have just as much "purpose" as we do. That said, getting stung by one of the buggers sucks the big dong.
Yep, hurt worse than when I blew out my knee...most painful thing I've ever experienced. I do not go wade fishing without stingray leggings anymore. I also got real good, real fast, at the "stingray shuffle" while wading in the bay/surf.
WHOA, I don't usually mind your standard wasp....it's those damn hornets/yellowjackets that freak me out. They are fairly aggressive, and will attack socially when aggravated. Meaning, several of them will go after you. They purposely hem themselves into your clothing, into a tight place if possible, to inflict repeated stings. Why, just yesterday, I was mowing my lawn, and felt a strange feeling...literally like someone was watching me. I happened to look up, and there was a large hornets' next above a window on my house. There were about 6-8 of them on it, all seemed to be facing my direction (probably paranoia). Anyway, I shut the mower down, went to the garage and doused them from about 10 feet with some Real Kill wasp spray. All died in a matter of seconds. Triumphantly, I restarted my mower, and finished the job.
The thing about yellowjackets, hornets, and a few other wasps is that they release chemicals when they are agitated, attacked, and even when they are killed that will call other wasps to where they are and help out. I hate wasps too!
I got stung by about 10 yellowjackets at a time, I HATE THOSE THINGS. Thing is with Yellowjackets is that they can keep on stinging you (unlike bees, where they die after one sting) so those little buggers kept on stinging. AND your body doesnt get immune to them. I would like all yellowjackets killed immediately.
My dad is seriously allergic to those little buggers. He's had to go to the hospital about 3 times due to stings. Once, when I was about 10, we were at our deer lease in Bracketville. It was an unusually warm afternoon for the time of year, so all the little critters that usually lay low in the cold were out in force. There was a 25 foot tower blind overlooking this nice open cendero where we were going to hunt for the evening. My dad climbs the ladder to check out the blind, and when he swings open the door, the entire inside of the door was covered in yellow jackets, must have been hundreds of the bastards. Needless to say, he set a land speed record for the decent of a 25 foot ladder, but still got stung 5 or 6 times on the way down. He drove the jeep back to the cabin, then had one of his buddies drive him to the hospital in Del Rio, where he spent the night. He would definitely agree that the yellow jacket is a species worthy of total extermination. Good times.
What about mosquitoes? Surely they don't serve any purpose! I dont care even if they do. Eliminate all of them! Insects SUCK!
Many Wasps are good... ... Some parasites have extremely complex and wondrous life cycles. For example, a eucharitid wasp that is a parasite of ants lays her eggs on the leaves of trees. The eggs hatch into a mobile immature that is able to crawl about on the leaf surface. In the spring, worker ants climb into the trees in search of aphids and other insects for food. The parasite larva attaches itself to any worker ant that comes close and, when the worker ant returns to its nest, it carries along the parasite. Once in the nest, the parasite drops off and attaches itself to a larval ant. The wasp larva feeds on the ant larva, eventually killing the ant. After emergence from the pupa, the adult wasp flies out of the ant nest to lay her eggs on leaves once more. Other types of parasitic wasps control aphids. The female lays an egg inside an aphid. The activity of the immature wasp within the aphid causes it to form a stiff, immobile form called a "mummy." Homeowners should leave mummies alone, and not wash them off the plant, because the new adult wasp will emerge and attack more aphids. Gardeners may encounter caterpillars, such as hornworms, suddenly decorated with white egg-like structures. These are actually wasp pupae within silken cocoons. The caterpillar should be left alone, because it will soon die, and the wasps will emerge and attack more caterpillars. Sometimes homeowners may find wasps with long projections or what they may call "stingers" at the end to their abdomen. These are members of another group of parasitic wasps called "ichneumonids." The tail is a long tube used for laying eggs, or "ovipositor." They use the ovipositor to lay eggs in insect larvae found feeding deep within plants, or even wood. They are completely harmless to humans. ... http://ag.arizona.edu/urbanipm/insects/parasites.html A&M has been testing using the parasitic wasps to control fire ants. Now mosquitos, on the other hand.....
Leave the aphids and ants alone! Pick on someone your own size. They tried this on Sliders. Horrific results. I'm going wasp hunting.
