Wasps
PROFESSIONAL WASP REMOVAL - NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK
Wasps are slender-waisted predatory arthropods of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita, which are neither ants nor bees. Wasps comprise an enormously diverse group of insects, with several thousand species in New York and more than a hundred thousand species worldwide. The most frequently encountered wasps on Long Island include yellow jackets, and paper wasps, also known as umbrella wasps, attributable to the unique design of their nests. Two species of paper wasps are found on Long Island: the northern paper wasp and the European paper wasp. These wasps are members of the family Vespidae which are eusocial insects that live together in a nest with an egg-laying queen wasp and non-reproducing female worker wasps. However, the majority of wasps are solitary insects, with each adult female wasp living and breeding independently. Solitary wasps found on Long Island include mud dauber wasps, great black wasps, four-toothed mason wasps, and cicada killer wasps. All social wasps reside in colonies and construct their nests using some form of plant fiber as the primary construction material. Wasps are essential in horticulture as pollinators of vegetables, flowers, fruits, and nuts and predators of pest insects like caterpillars, whiteflies, and beetles. Many solitary wasp species, including mud dauber wasps and cicada killer wasps, are parasitoidal. Parasitoidal wasps lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, which are fed upon and inevitably killed by the developing wasp larvae. Unlike honey bees, wasps don't produce honey or store food. Adult solitary wasps primarily consume nectar, but the majority of their time is spent searching for insects to feed their offspring. Adult social wasps feed predominantly upon nectar gathered from flowering plants and the juices from fruit that have fallen to the ground. Social wasps will bring carrion, generally in the form of dead insects, back to their nest to nourish the developing wasp larvae.
WASP LIFE CYCLE AND REPRODUCTION - LONG ISLAND, NY
All wasps, whether social or solitary, undergo complete metamorphosis, meaning they have four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
The life cycle of social wasps begins with the awakening of over-wintering fertilized queen wasps from hibernation. On Long Island, these social wasp queens are yellow jackets and paper wasps. Following a short period of feeding and exploring, the queen wasps will begin constructing their nests in dry, sheltered areas, including attics, home roofs, eaves, or within the walls of Nassau County residences. The wasp queens build their nests containing honeycomb-like cells from chewed plant fibers. The queen wasp then lays a single egg in each cell of the newly created nest which hatches into larvae within five to eight days. Wasp queens collect sugary substances and catch other insects to feed their developing larvae. After five molts over approximately fifteen days, each larva spins a silken cap over the cell and pupates. Pupation takes eight to eighteen days before an adult worker wasp emerges. In total, it takes about twenty-eight to forty-eight days from the egg to the appearance of an adult, although the length of time spent in each stage is contingent upon environmental factors. The queen wasp will continue to lay eggs in the nest cells, which will give rise to female worker wasps. The newly hatched worker wasps will search for food for developing larvae, expand the nest's size, and defend the nest against potential intruders. As the end of summer approaches, the growth rate of the was nest slows down. Now the nest is producing more male wasps, also known as drones, than female workers. In the fall, new queen wasps will emerge from the nest, which will mate and then hibernate. The old queen wasp, workers, and drones die off in late fall, while the new hibernating wasp queens continue the cycle the following year. Social wasps will not reuse the same nest in the next year.
The life cycle of a solitary wasp consists of a single female wasp mating and then preparing and provisioning one or more nests, each containing one or more cells with insects for their young to consume. The nesting habits of solitary wasps vary considerably. Digger wasps such as the cicada killer wasp or the great black wasp will dig a tunnel in the ground, which leads to egg chambers that they construct and provision with paralyzed insects. Mud dauber wasps build nests using mud as their construction material. Four-toothed mason wasps nest in various cavities, including hollow plant stems, tunnels abandoned by carpenter bees, and abandoned mud dauber nests. When the solitary wasp eggs hatch, the larvae consume the supplied food without leaving the cell. Following pupation, the new adult wasps emerge and seek a mate, after which the drones die, and the females live on to restart the cycle.
WASP STINGS - NASSAU COUNTY, NY
Social wasps use their stingers only to defend their nest, while solitary wasps use their stingers to paralyze their prey. The wasp's stinger is located in the same body part as the ovipositor, the needle-like tube that queens use to lay their eggs. Social wasps will release an alarm pheromone that chemically marks a perceived intruder and alerts the wasp colony to attack. The alerted colony of wasps will launch a coordinated assault on the perceived threat and repeatedly sting an intruder. Wasp stings can result in anaphylactic shock in people who are allergic.
WASP NEST REMOVAL - NASSAU COUNTY, NY
Getting rid of a wasp nest may be both demanding and dangerous. Yellow jacket wasps are considered to be the most hazardous stinging flying insects in America, and there are six species of the wasp established on Long Island. In the absence of the proper equipment, training, and pesticides, removing a wasp nest from your Nassau County home is a project destined to fail. Therefore, you must contact Nassau County Pest Control's wasp nest removal experts for professional wasp control services. Our Long Island yellow jacket removal experts have a vast knowledge of wasp control methods and numerous years of experience locating wasp nests and selecting the appropriate treatment method. Because wasp stings are extremely painful and can produce a potentially lethal anaphylactic reaction in allergic people, wasp nests in human-inhabited areas present an impending danger. Contact Nassau County Pest Control's wasp nest removal experts to eliminate an unwanted wasp nest. Our pest control professionals have educational backgrounds in entomology and expertise in wasp control strategies. Correctly identifying the wasp species that is infesting your Nassau County dwelling is vital to wasp removal in Long Island.
