THE WORLD OF LIFE with Douglas Drenkow - Sawflies, Wasps, Ants, & Bees

Wasps and their kin are small to large insects. The antennae are usually long. The mouthparts are chewing, sometimes (as in many bees) tongue-like. The wings are usually, but not always, present. When present, the two pairs of wings are membranous, with few veins, and not held roof-like over the body at rest; and the forewing is a little larger than the hind. The tail-end of the body of the females usually bears a long, egg-laying "ovipositor" (found also in many other orders of insects), which is sometimes modified into a short, venomous sting (found, amongst insects, only in wasps, ants, and bees).

Sawflies and horntails are typically up to about 1-1/2" long, dark to colorful, and wasp- or bee-like; however, unlike wasps or bees, sawflies and horntails are broad- (not wasp-) waisted and are never equipped with a sting (The tail of a horntail is long, thin, and non-venomous).

Parasitic "wasps" are typically small and are always stingless (although the long, stout ovipositor used by certain species to pierce wood and lay eggs within the burrows of wood-boring pests can sometimes puncture human skin).

True wasps are typically medium- to large-sized, dark to colorful (often black-and-yellow or -white), slender, wasp- (not broad-) waisted, and usually not hairy (When present, the hairs on wasps are never microscopically branched or feathery, as they are on bees). Almost all adult female wasps have the ovipositor modified into a sting: Wasps -- a large and diverse group of species -- are sometimes defined as stinging insects other than ants or bees.

Ants are small, and dark to red or yellow (The color typically develops a few days after emergence as an adult). The antennae are elbowed, at least in the females. There is a hump on top of the wasp- (not broad-) waist. Ants are social insects, with a division of labor between specialized forms, or "castes" (Please see below). Although "workers" (the most commonly seen ants) are wingless, "queens" and males for at least part of their life have wings, which have a fair number of veins. Some ants stink when disturbed; many can sting, occasionally with fatal results; and all can bite, sometimes very painfully.

Bees are small- to large-sized, dark to colorful, wasp- (not broad-) waisted), and typically stout and quite hairy (many of the hairs microscopically branched or feathery). The first segment of the hind "tarsus" (foot) is usually enlarged, as a "pollen basket"; and the ovipositor is adapted as a sting.

METAMORPHOSIS

The larvae of sawflies and the similar horntails typically look like caterpillars (occasionally, like slugs), although with more fleshy "prolegs" on the segments of the abdomen.

The larvae of parasitic "wasps", true wasps, ants, and bees are maggot-like, although with a distinct head -- more like the larva of a weevil than that of a fly.

The pupa is typically in a cocoon, sometimes on a parasitized host or in a nest.

Almost all ants and many wasps and bees live in societies, much like those of the only-distantly-related termites; however, the "castes" of these "hymenopterans" include only workers, queens, and males -- there are no large-jawed "soldiers". Although they are sterile -- not able to reproduce -- hymenopteran workers are actually female, equipped with an ovipositor modified into a sting, with which they can defend their nest. Males (called "drones" in societies of bumble bees or honey bees) are typically produced in small numbers, often at the end of the growing season; the queen, after mating, is often the only member of the colony to survive overwinter. Typically, the behavior of the individuals in the society is coordinated by genetic predispositions and chemical communications (there are no higher thought processes, let alone humanistic values). The ultimate goal of an insect society is to nurture the young and, thus, perpetuate the species...although every colony works and fights only for itself, as something of a "super-organism".

HABITATS

The larvae are usually in or on plants, in or on parasitized "hosts", or in nests fashioned by the adults (such as a burrow in the ground provisioned with food by the mother).

The pupa is often in a cocoon, as in or on a parasitized host or in a specially constructed "cell" within the nest of social bees or wasps (Mud-daubers build nests of mud; paper wasps "pulp" paper for their nest, by chewing-up small bits of wood; and honey bees build honeycombs from beeswax they produce).

Although they may be on or in the soil, in debris, or on or in social nests (as in soil or hollow trees), the adults of this order are usually found on plants, especially on flowers (Honey bee workers dance on the honeycomb in the same direction relative to vertical that other workers must fly out of the hive relative to the sun in order to find nectar- and pollen-rich flowers; the richness of the source indicated by the vigorousness of the dance).

FOODS

Many larvae feed on or in plant parts (sometimes producing swollen "galls" in plants); some larvae feed in or on parasitized hosts, especially insects, spiders, or other arthropods; and other larvae (as of most wasps, ants, and bees) feed in their nests on the food provided by the adults -- solitary wasps typically provide food just once, when the eggs are laid; whereas social species provide food continuously, as their larvae grow. Foods provided to the larvae include such prey as caterpillars (stung and, thus, paralyzed or killed by the adults) or pollen and nectar (as processed into honey by enzymes from bees).

The adults of this order usually feed on such sweet liquids as flower nectar, adult bees also eat pollen, and many ants will eat almost anything edible.

Ants have some of the most interesting feeding habits in all of nature. Leafcutter ants chew-off pieces of leaves (sometimes seriously defoliating plants) and take them back to the nest, where the vegetable matter is used as a fertile base for fungus gardens. Some ants tend and defend aphids and other sap-sucking insects that produce "honeydew" (a sweet liquid) as "dairy cattle": The ants gently stroke the abdomen of their "cows", to "milk" out the honeydew, which in some species of ants is stored within the swollen abdomen of "honey barrel" workers. Some species of ants have jaws that are so long that they cannot feed themselves; instead, these ants raid the nests of other ants, kidnap their pupae, and raise their hostages as slaves!

DAMAGES/BENEFITS

Some larvae (such as leaf-eating sawfly larvae, wood-boring horntail larvae, the wheat stem sawfly, or the clover seed chalcid) are very destructive pests of valuable plants.

Leafcutting ants and, to a lesser extent, leafcutting bees do some damage to the foliage of our plants.

Some ants eat our foodstuffs and/or pose a nuisance indoors.

Carpenter ants and carpenter bees infest some wooden structures but they also recycle fallen timber in nature.

Some ants, wasps, and bees dig up lawns for nesting.

The bite of many ants and some large sawflies is very painful to us human beings; and the sting of many ants, wasps, and bees -- especially in defense of their nests -- is typically very painful and sometimes very dangerous (particularly in the case of multiple stings or allergic victims, who should always carry an emergency prescription from their doctor).

Parasitic "wasps", parasitic and predatory true wasps, and predatory ants control many other insects, often pests. Many successful "biological control" programs employ carefully selected parasitic "wasps", often from the native land of a pest accidentally imported into another area, with few natural enemies.

Honey bees produce useful beeswax as well as tasty, nutritious, and valuable honey; and most importantly, honey bees, bumble bees, and other hymenopterans each year perform billions of dollars' worth of pollination services for a wide variety of flowering/fruiting/seeding plants -- crops that directly or, as animal feed, indirectly provide us with a third of all our food. The ancient art of beekeeping, when practiced safely and not disrupted by pesticides, is perhaps the ultimate in human/insect cooperation!

True Insects (Insecta)

Doug@DouglasDrenkow.com

Photo of Cells: H.D.A. Lindquist, US EPA

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