Yellowjacket queen

[Galapoheros]

Found two of them today while looking under things. Finishing up over-wintering I guess. I caught both but had to let one go.

 

[Tleilaxu]

Do you still have that one in the pic? I will pay for it. If its OK with you I would like to show this image to some people to see if I can get an ID I will give proper credit to you and make sure people know its your photo. I have it posted at bugguide.net with your name as the copyright owner of the pic If your not happy let me know and I will remove it ASAP. I just want an ID so I know what I am dealing with.

 

[Waspman]

It's Vespula squamosa, which is fairly common in east/southeast Texas.

Tleilaxu, this is the species that I've been unsuccessful with in nesting. They can be socially parasitic within the species and with another species, which is most likely why they aren't the best species to induce nesting.

 

[Tleilaxu]

Oh dear... Would it take over a paper wasp nest? Or an abandoned yellowjacket nest, I have both.

 

[Waspman]

The nest cells would be too large for the first workers, unless a nest of a smaller paper wasp species (Polistes dorsalis, etc.) is used. Even with the diameter smaller, the cell length would be too long.

Host odors might be an issue too for the yellowjacket nest.

I honestly don't know if it will or will not work.

 

[Tleilaxu]

Oh. Well the only paper wasp that I know of that lives here are the northern and european ones. She looks like the cell dimentions would not be an issue but I trust your judgment. And since they are parasitic they won't accept an abandoned hornet nest either.

 

[Galapoheros]

I have a real big nest I dug up in the winter. I don't like them in my yard since their sting REALLY HURTS!! I drug a tree limb over their hole one time ...SON OF A DIDDLY! When I dug it up, there were several queens sitting on it. I know the smell you're talking about. Kind of a sweat smell. Where does that come from?

 

[Tleilaxu]

I think its from the worker and queens they may use it to mark the nest but I don't know for sure. Hey do have a smaller piece of that? Perhaps I could use it to try and induce a nest. I am going to give it a shot.

 

[Waspman]

The smell is probably nest odor (nest material and meconium (feces at the bottom of the cells)).

The odor I'm talking about isn't detectable by humans, species-specific pheromones.

The large cells at the bottom are queen cells.


I wish I could get a nest from these, all of the nests I keep my eye on are ransacked by animals.

 

[Galapoheros]

When I first tried to get rid of a nest in my backyard several years ago, I read you could put a jar over their hole to get rid of them. They come up and starve or the heat trapped in the jar (in the sun) kills them. In the Summer, I'd watch them come up and it was so hot in the jar that they kick in 2 or 3 seconds. They don't try to construct another exit. Sounds kind of cruel but the sting is getting to the point that it is almost dangerous for me to get stung. I usually leave stuff like that alone but I mess around in the yard a lot and have accidentally upset them. It'd be diff if they were in a tree somewhere. If you locate a nest in the ground somewhere,maybe you could turn a clay pot upside down on top of the hole to keep animals from getting to it. Kind of hard to locate a nest though. When she gets a little upset, I can smell an odor. When she calms down, it goes away. I caught a Pepsis wasp last year and I could smell a similar odor. Kind of a clean, sweet smell, hard to describe. What might that be? Meconium related odor used as a defense odor? Here she is eating some honey. She was really hungry after sitting under that rock all winter.

 

[syndicate]

I have a real big nest I dug up in the winter. I don't like them in my yard since their sting REALLY HURTS!! I drug a tree limb over their hole one time ...SON OF A DIDDLY! When I dug it up, there were several queens sitting on it. I know the smell you're talking about. Kind of a sweat smell. Where does that come from?

thats a big hive man!
nice find