The answer to whether social wasp nests contain queens is yes; her presence is the foundation of the colony’s existence. The queen is the sole reproductive female, responsible for producing every member of the nest, which can eventually number in the thousands. This article explores the annual cycle of common social wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, focusing on the queen’s specialized role.
The Foundress Queen and Colony Initiation
The annual life cycle of a social wasp colony begins in the spring with a single overwintered female known as the foundress queen. She emerges from hibernation, often a sheltered spot like a hollow log or attic, and immediately seeks a suitable location to establish a new nest. This initial phase is solitary and demanding, as the queen must perform all the labor herself.
The foundress constructs the first set of cells by scraping and chewing wood fiber, mixing it with saliva to create a paper-like pulp. She builds a small, suspended comb, laying a single egg into each cell. During this period, the queen is responsible for foraging for food, water, and building materials, and feeding the developing larvae protein from captured insects.
This “queen colony phase” is the most vulnerable time for the new nest; estimates suggest only about 31% of founding colonies survive to maturity. Until the first batch of adult workers emerges, the foundress must defend the nest and manage all resources alone. Her success in this initial effort determines the survival and ultimate size of the colony for the season.
Defining Roles Within the Social Wasp Colony
The queen’s role changes dramatically once the first generation of sterile female workers appears, typically several weeks after the nest’s initiation. The queen transitions from a generalist—a builder, forager, and nurse—to a specialist, becoming a full-time egg-layer. She remains inside the nest, dedicating her energy to reproduction and colony regulation.
The queen maintains her reproductive monopoly through chemical communication, releasing specific compounds known as pheromones. These signals, which belong to a class called saturated hydrocarbons, are detected by workers and actively suppress the development of their ovaries. This mechanism ensures that sterile female workers focus on tasks like foraging, building, and caring for the brood, rather than attempting to lay their own eggs.
In a mature colony, the population is divided into three castes: the single reproductive queen, the numerous sterile female workers, and the male wasps, known as drones. Workers are responsible for all maintenance, defense, and food collection. The queen’s continuous egg production can reach hundreds of eggs per day to sustain the expanding workforce. Her pheromones also serve a dual purpose, acting as a signal on her eggs that prevents workers from destroying them, a behavior known as “policing.”
The Seasonal Life Cycle and Queen Succession
As summer reaches its peak, usually in late summer or early autumn, the colony’s focus shifts from growth to reproduction. The founding queen, reaching the end of her lifespan, changes the type of eggs she lays. Instead of producing only sterile worker eggs, she begins to lay two new types of reproductive brood.
Some eggs are unfertilized, developing into fertile male drones. Others are fertilized and destined to become the next generation of queens, often called gynes. These new queens are raised in enlarged cells and fed a richer diet by the workers. A large nest can produce 1,000 to 2,000 new queens before the season ends.
Once the new queens and males emerge, they leave the nest to mate outside the colony structure. The founding queen’s egg-laying ceases, and her social control over the workers begins to break down, often leading to her death. The fertilized new queens then seek sheltered locations to enter diapause, winter hibernation, carrying the potential for a new colony the following spring.