COMMON WASP

The Latin name for the Common wasp is Vespula vulgaris.

This is a social wasp, making nests in the ground or in attics and outhouses. It visits houses and gardens for fruit and other sweet foods. Wasps are colonial, with a single queen building up a papery nest, which may eventually enlarge to contain several thousand individuals. The nest is otherwise known as a comb. In this comb are single layers of cells, in each of which an egg is laid. When these hatch, the queen works hard feeding them with chewed up flies.

This wasp has a black anchor, three black dots on the front of the head and a black triangle on the abdomen.