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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Vespoidea » Hornets, Yellowjackets; Paper, Potter, Mason, and Pollen Wasps; and Allies (Vespidae) » Hornets and Yellowjackets (Vespinae) » Aerial Yellowjackets (Dolichovespula) » Bald-faced Aerial Yellowjacket (Dolichovespula maculata)
Photo#1451231
hive activity - Dolichovespula maculata
Copyright © 2017 Ilze V-G.

hive activity - Dolichovespula maculata
Sudbury, McFarlane Lake, Ontario, Canada
September 23, 2017
Size: 30cm tall x 20cm wide
Hornet nest / hive.This hive grew at eye level in the fir, without our noticing it till September. Near the end of the month the wasps seemed to be liquidating what look like larva (see next snap)...
WHY? was it a new family taking over the nest? I cannot imagine that these larva whose pile grew and grew were being brought from elsewhere to rot at their doorstep?? (also will include a 3rd snap of a wasp emerging from the nest.)

Images of this individual: tag all
hive activity - Dolichovespula maculata hive activity - Dolichovespula maculata Bald-faced hornet - Dolichovespula maculata
Contributed by Ilze V-G. on 6 October, 2017 - 10:25am
Last updated 8 October, 2017 - 5:03pm

Moved
Moved from Hornets and Yellowjackets.
Larvae of many social wasps are evicted during the end of the season when food sources are diminished and the foundress queen has died. This is likely due to lack of available food and social structure within the nest as the season winds down.
… Vespula Vulgaris, 8 October, 2017 - 5:03pm

Moved
Moved from Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies.
… Ilze V-G., 6 October, 2017 - 3:57pm

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