A wasp nest, known scientifically as a vespiary, is a structure created by social wasps to shelter and propagate their colony. Its purpose is to serve as a protected nursery where the queen lays eggs and the larvae develop safely. The nest provides insulation and a stable microclimate, which is important for the growth of the brood. In temperate climates, the entire structure is temporary, designed to maximize colony growth and reproduction during a single season.
The Raw Materials: How Wasps Manufacture Paper
Social wasps create their own building material from cellulose fibers. The process begins when the wasp uses its mandibles to scrape wood from sources such as dead trees, weathered fences, or unpainted lumber. This collected wood fiber is chewed and mixed with the wasp’s salivary secretions. This mixing action breaks down the raw cellulose and creates a soft, quick-drying pulp.
The resulting substance is a rudimentary type of paper used to construct the nest walls and cells. The finished nest’s color often varies, reflecting the different sources of wood the foraging wasps used, resulting in patterns of gray, brown, or reddish streaks. This papery material is durable and lightweight, providing the necessary insulation to regulate the nest’s internal temperature and humidity. Layering this pulp allows the wasps to continually expand and maintain the structure throughout the growing season.
Stages of Construction: From Queen to Colony
The construction of a social wasp nest begins in the spring with a solitary, fertilized queen emerging from hibernation. Her first task is to locate a suitable, sheltered site and begin the founding phase of the colony. She starts by fashioning a small stem, called a pedicel, which anchors the structure to the chosen surface.
Around this central attachment point, the queen constructs the first batch of hexagonal brood cells using the paper pulp. She lays a single egg in each cell and then forages for food to nourish the developing larvae. This solitary phase continues until the first generation of worker wasps emerges as adults.
Once the first sterile female workers appear, the colony enters a rapid expansion phase, transitioning to a cooperative society. These new workers immediately take over the duties of foraging for food and collecting building materials, freeing the queen to focus exclusively on laying eggs. The workers rapidly expand the original comb structure, adding more cells and often building a multilayered, protective envelope around the nest. This division of labor allows the nest to grow exponentially throughout the summer months, sometimes reaching the size of a basketball or larger.
Identifying Nest Locations and Types
Wasp species exhibit diverse preferences for where they build their vespiaries, leading to three primary categories of nest location. Aerial nests, constructed by species like hornets, are suspended from tree branches, eaves, or porch overhangs in a teardrop or spherical shape. These structures are fully enclosed by a protective outer paper layer, with a single entrance hole near the bottom.
Other species, most notably yellow jackets, build subterranean nests by taking advantage of existing cavities. They use abandoned rodent burrows or natural holes in the ground, expanding the space to house their multiple paper combs. These ground nests are often only visible as a small entrance hole in the soil, making them difficult to spot.
Paper wasps build a distinct, umbrella-shaped aerial nest with the hexagonal cells exposed and visible from below, attached to a surface by a slender stalk. In contrast, mud daubers, which are solitary wasps, construct hard, tubular nests made from mud or clay, attaching them to vertical walls or under eaves. The specific location and material composition of a nest are the best clues to identifying the species that inhabit it.