Figure 11. European wasps feeding on carbohydrates (Perthnow)
Biology & Behaviour
The European wasp is mainly warm climate pest. In cold climates, colonies produce only a generation of new queens each year. They are released prior to the death of the founding queen and nest (Tennant et. al. 2011). In warmer climates breeding and nest construction continue throughout the year. Resulting in massive summer colonies containing thousands of individuals and hundreds of new queens (Tennant et al., 2011).
European wasp queens hibernate in winter. In spring, they leave to look for nesting sites. Several factors contribute to nest failures including predation, food availability, lack of suitable nest sites and poor weather conditions (Ward et al., 2002). Large wasp outbreaks in summer are a result of the survival of queens in the spring (Ward et al., 2002).
The majority of European wasps nests are underground. They are holes dug into the soil. Other nest sites include tree trunks (Ward et. al. 2002). In urban areas, they came be located in walls and roof spaces (Davidson, 1986).
If a nest is disturbed, worker wasps swam out of the nest attacking the intruder. They use chemical cues alerting other wasps back to the site (Lefoe et al., 2001, Ward et al., 2002). Worker wasps forage from 50 to 250 metres away (Ward et al., 2002). They seek carbohydrate (nectar's and sugars) to feed and protein (insects and carrion meats) to take back to feed the larvae (Lefoe et al., 2001).