Insects are the most numerous and diverse class of living things on planet Earth. Scientists have more than 4 million of their species. Some of the insects bring obvious benefit and benefit to a person (for example, bees), others cause positive emotions (butterflies, fireflies) due to their beauty. There are those with which neighborhood can bring tangible discomfort (flies, mosquitoes).
A bit about hornets
Hornets are very large wasps up to 5.5 cm long. They live in colonies, which number up to 400 individuals. They build horizontally located nests, which are cells in several rows of five hundred cells each.
Giant wasps equip their homes in warm places that are protected from winds and rains. Most often they prefer proximity to humans, as they like to eat leftovers from human foods. They also eat other smaller insects, rotting fruits, drink plant juice.
Insect wintering
The peculiarity of hornets is that they lack thermoregulation. With the onset of cold weather, they need to safely hide and fall into a stupor. Otherwise, insects die.
The device nests for the winter
Housing insects are built from ground jaws of wood mixed with saliva. To protect against temperature changes and other negative factors, the honeycombs themselves, in which the larvae develop, are wrapped in a wood mixture resembling a paper cocoon.
The nest often resembles a pear or ball in shape. It is characterized by amazing symmetry and accuracy of forms.
The larger the diameter of the aspen house, the more individuals live in it. The ability to build nests is transmitted genetically to each generation. Fertilized female uterus wakes up after hibernation and chooses a place for future residence of the whole swarm.
There she attaches the base and makes a few (3-5) of the first cells. Eggs are laid in them, the first larvae develop, from which the working representatives of the genus emerge. They also finish building the hive afterwards. Nests are used only in the warm season to grow larvae in combs.
Did you know? Work on home improvement continues even in the dark.
Wasps settle in secluded places:
- hollow;
- burrows of animals;
- under the roofs of houses;
- in the cracks of the trunks;
- in the crevices of the rocks.
In winter, wasps leave the house. Those individuals who are going to overwinter do not specifically prepare the place for hibernation. It is simply chosen so that no one detects the insect and accidentally destroys it. You should not be afraid that the wasp decides to wait out the frost in a warm house of a person.
Did you know? Insects are able to see in the dark and never sleep.
When and how to hibernate
In mid-autumn, hornets leave the nest and begin active mating. With the advent of frost, they cannot maintain their metabolism and, in order to survive, fall into hibernation. Only the fertilized females of the hornets settle down for the winter.
The uterus, drones and workers simply die. The fluid in the body of the insect is glycerin. Due to this, it does not turn into a piece of ice at sub-zero temperatures and is able to warm up and continue to function with the advent of spring.
Where to winter
Females take refuge for the winter in a cold place. This can be unheated abandoned rooms, ditches between bricks in the outer part of the walls of residential buildings, hollows, cracks in the bark, holes, places under large stones.
Do they pose a threat in winter
In the cold season, wasps do not pose any threat. Most of them died. Those who remain are in deep suspended animation, from which it is possible to get out only with the onset of heat.
Important! If warming occurs in winter, followed by sudden frosts, the uterus and offspring will die.
Fighting hornets in winter
What is called insect control in winter is only the actual destruction of their old nesting grounds. Their bulk with the advent of cold weather dies naturally. The surviving individuals fall into suspended animation alone outside the walls of the human house.
A female wakes up in spring when the air temperature reaches + 10 ° С. At this time, her task is to build cells and the offspring. Hornets are an important part of the ecosystem. If you find a uterus sleeping in winter or somewhere in a hurry in spring, you should not kill it. In some regions of the planet, the species is listed in the Red Book.
If within the limits of visibility (for example, under a roof) there is a hornet's nest, it causes certain fears and negative emotions. Such a structure can be safely removed in winter. However, in fact, it does not pose any threat to humans. Next time, the swarm will build a new home.
Giant wasps are controversial for humans:
- Kill the bees.
- Their bites bring pain and can cause severe allergies.
- They devour harmful insects (aphids).
- Organic residues are eaten, thereby cleaning the area.
Important! After wintering, hornets always build a new nest, they do not return to the old one.
Hornets are not afraid of man, but they do not attack him specially. They can sting only if they feel a threat to themselves or their offspring. They can be regarded as a dangerous signal and carry out an attack at the sight of fluttering hair, clothes, dead insects.
Also, obsessive interest can cause food with a banana and apple smell and the presence of alcohol or ether. Nevertheless, in the summer and until mid-autumn, it is desirable to have an antihistamine with you, so that a sudden collision with a stinging insect is as safe as possible.
