Day 4. Paper wasp's nest building. Midhurst, West Sussex 19.4.2015. Vespula germanica - Þetta er fjögurra daga gamalt bú og strax búið að verpa í fyrstu hólfin. Þetta er geitungur sem fæðir sín börn á lifandi bráð eins og fiðrildalirfum og flugur sem eru lamaðar með eitri. Small wasp nest. Papermaking Wasp. Paper wasps will defend their nest aggressively. Búið stækkar dag frá degi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oGzqzUcdI8 Árið 1973 kom drottning húsageitungs sér fyrir í miðborg Reykjavíkur og varð henni tilætluð kápa úr klæði sínu. Holugeitungur, trjágeitungur og roðageitungur fylgdu í kjölfarið. Lesa meira: http://www.ni.is/midlun-og-thjonusta/hrafnathing/greinar/nr/59 European paper wasps are sometimes mistaken for yellowjackets or hornets. he European paper wasp is a generally black insect marked with yellow. They are fairly slender-bodied insects with a distinct constriction of the body between the thorax and abdomen. The paper nests of this wasp are commonly observed in yards and gardens and the wasp is involved in stinging incidents. The European paper wasp develops as a predator of caterpillars and some other insects, populations of which have probably been affected by the establishment of this new wasp. The European paper wasp is superficially similar to and commonly mistaken for various yellowjackets - Vespula. The European paper wasp is a social insect that produces an annual colony in a paper nest. Individual colonies are established anew each spring. The overwintering stage are females (queens), only slightly larger than the wasps typically observed during summer. Female wasps that were fertilized the previous fall survive winter in protected sites in and around a yard. When they emerge from overwintering shelters, they may be seen on warm days as they seek sites to establish new nests. Nests are constructed of paper, produced from chewed wood fibers of weathered fences, porch decks and similar sites. Initially, a few hexagonal paper cells are formed and eggs laid in the cells. Upon hatch, the wasp larvae are fed crushed insects, usually caterpillars, that the overwintered queen discovers in foraging trips among nearby plants. When full grown the larvae then seal over the cell and pupate. Development of the wasps to the adult form is usually completed in 3 to 4 weeks after eggs are laid. The new wasps assist in colony activities of nest construction, foraging, and caring for young. The original queen increasingly remains restricted to the nest as new workers take over colony activities. The colony continues to grow through the summer and may contain several dozen individuals by the end of summer. The fertilized overwintering females seek protected sites for shelter during the cold season. Often they find winter shelter outdoors but occasionally they will find suitable areas behind walls or in other areas of the house. These wasps sometimes will move about during warm periods and may find themselves within the living space. Such wintertime encounters do not indicate the presence of an active nest, only that some wasps have found some pocket of winter shelter within the building. Overwintered females emerge from these areas in spring and search out sites to establish nests in the neighborhood. Nests are almost always established in new locations each year and several kinds of nest sites are particularly favored. Nests are almost always attached to either wood, roughened metal surfaces, or rock. See more: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05611.html Polistes dominula was originally described in 1791 by Johann Ludwig Christ as Vespa dominula. The specific epithet dominula is a noun meaning "little mistress", and following the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, species epithets which are nouns do not change when a species is placed in a different genus. Authors who were unaware that dominula was a noun have misspelled the species name as "dominulus" for decades. There is little va...