Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

yellow-jackets exoskeleton

Vespidae

Description:

Yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory wasps of the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of these are black and yellow; some are black and white (such as the bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata), while others may have the abdomen background color red instead of black. They can be identified by their distinctive markings, small size (similar to a honey bee), their occurrence only in colonies, and a characteristic, rapid, side to side flight pattern prior to landing. All females are capable of stinging. Yellowjackets are important predators of pest insects

Habitat:

Dolichovespula species (for example, the aerial yellowjacket, Dolichovespula arenaria, and the bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata) tend to create exposed aerial nests (a feature shared with true hornets, which has led to some confusion as to the use of the name "hornet"). Vespula species, in contrast, build concealed nests, usually underground. Yellowjacket nests usually last for only one season, dying off in winter. The nest is started by a single queen, called the "foundress". Typically, a nest can reach the size of a basketball by the end of a season. In parts of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and southwestern coastal areas of the United States, the winters are mild enough to allow nest overwintering. Nests that survive multiple seasons become massive and often possess multiple egg-laying queens

Notes:

Many other insects exhibit protective mimicry of aggressive, stinging yellowjackets; in addition to numerous bees and wasps (Müllerian mimicry), the list includes some flies, moths, and beetles (Batesian mimicry). --through research at the german-wikipedia, i found " Tree wasp, Dolichovespula sylvestris" which i suspect to be/was these exoskeleton.

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

2 Comments

AlexKonig
AlexKonig 12 years ago

hi CindyBinghamKeiser, to be honest , i dont know what really happend. but because the exoskeleton was almost unharmed, just disconnected, it could not have fought to death (naja- the end section of the tail,usually where the sting is, was disapeard) stung some-one\/thing. just fallen out !!? It was laying onder tree in the grass. I found this specimen in particulare relativ big. maybe just old or queen. After it had died,it must have ben dried out or has been cleaned up.. .

CindyBinghamKeiser
CindyBinghamKeiser 12 years ago

Nice detailed spotting. Any idea what happened?

AlexKonig
Spotted by
AlexKonig

Kerkrade, Limburg, Netherlands

Spotted on Oct 21, 2011
Submitted on Nov 3, 2011

Spotted for Mission

Related Spottings

Vespidae. Avispa Vespidae Potter Wasp black_Wasp (Vespidae)

Nearby Spottings

Spotting gewone zwavelkop (nl) grote stinkzwam (nl) edible frog (usa - !?)  teichfrosch (ger)
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team