wasps

Wasps are a diverse group, estimated at well over a hundred thousand described species around the world, and a great many more as yet undescribed.

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The most commonly known wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, are in the family Vespidae and are eusocial, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers.

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Many other wasp species are parasitoids; the females deposit eggs on or in a host arthropod on which the larvae then feed. Some larvae start off as parasitoids, but convert at a later stage to consuming the plant tissues that their host is feeding on.

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Learn more about them in my Nature Facts for Kids series.