How Do Wasps Reproduce? A Detailed Explanation of the Reproduction Process

Wasps reproduce by laying eggs. There is 1 egg in each nest cell, and its base is fixed by a silk-like stalk, so that even if the nest is hanging upside down, it will not fall, and worker wasps are responsible for feeding it. When it matures, its body gradually changes from crystal clear to bright yellow, then it seals a thin cocoon over the cell opening and turns into a pupa, and after emerging as an adult, it breaks out of the cocoon. From egg to emergence takes only two to three weeks.

1. What Kinds of Wasps Are in a Wasp Colony?

1. Queen wasp: After overwintering, the queen wasp, after a period of activity and replenishing nutrients, each finds a relatively sunny and wind-sheltered place to build a nest, lays the first generation of eggs while building the nest, and also undertakes all work such as defending against enemies, hunting food, and rearing the first generation of larvae.

2. Drone: Drones are bred from eggs laid by individuals among the second-generation female wasps that have not mated and been fertilized. They can mate with a small number of female wasps from the same nest or a different nest, and can also mate with female wasps of the same generation or the maternal generation, and die one after another shortly after mating.

3. Worker wasp: Worker wasps are responsible for all internal and external duties of the colony. The first generation of adult wasps are all worker wasps undertaking internal and external duties. Among the second-generation female wasps, apart from the few that successfully mate and become new queen wasps and the occasional individuals that lay male eggs without mating, most of the rest are worker wasps.

2. How Do Wasps Spend the Winter?

In a wasp colony there are the queen, worker wasps (female wasps), and drones. The queen is a female wasp that mated and was fertilized with a drone after autumn of the previous year. The drone dies shortly after mating, while the female wasp stores the sperm in a spermatheca. When it gradually gets cold, fertilized female wasps leave the nest one after another to seek wind-sheltered places such as wall cracks and haystacks, where they cluster together to overwinter. The lower the temperature, the tighter the cluster; when the temperature is slightly higher, the cluster loosens, and when the temperature is above 7°C, they begin to disperse. In the spring of the following year, the surviving female wasps disperse and go out to move about separately, finding suitable places on their own to build nests and lay eggs. The fertilized eggs laid form female wasps, and the unfertilized eggs form drones. As worker wasps increase, the nest gradually expands.