Once eggs hatch, the legless larvae remain in their cells to be taken care of. The wasps hunt prey, primarily caterpillars, but also other insects like flies, and beetle larvae. The adult cuts up the prey and masticates it (thoroughly chewing it) prior to feeding it to the larvae. [ed. note: similar to how we raised our little ones.]
Water is also provided for the larva. Wasps may find a puddle or stream or dew that has collected at the base of some leaves.
Polistine paper wasps will generally only attack if they themselves or their nest are threatened. Their territoriality can lead to attacks on people, and their stings are quite painful
When threatened, the wasps have a variety of responses depending upon the severity. The first level is posturing. They face the perceived threat, stand tall and raise their wings.
At a higher level they run round the nest surface and finally with sufficient disturbance, fly around the nest attempting to locate the source, chasing and stinging the threat. They use alarm pheromones to coordinate their response.
Polistes carolina is one of two species of red paper wasp found in the eastern United States (the other being Polistes rubiginosus) and is noted for the finer ridges on its propodeum. It is a social wasp in the family Vespidae and subfamily Polistinae. The species is native to the United States from Texas to Florida, north to New York, and west to Nebraska. The wasp’s common name is due to the reddish-brown color of its head and body. P. carolina prefer to build their nests in protected spaces.
Polistes species establish clear dominant and subordinate relationships in which the dominant gains the most reproduction success. [ed. note: macho alpha wasps?]
As in other aculeate wasps, only females have the ability to sting.
Ms. Paper Wasp shortly after stinging Elder UC#4.
The Devil’s Sting
A poignant story by Drew Bratcher about nine year old’s encounter with a paper wasp. (Paris Review).
I am nine years old, soon to be ten. When people ask me what I want to be when I grow up, I say “country singer,” I say “Braves center fielder,” but what I think I want to be is one of these men. I want to be tough like them, steady-handed.
The truth is I’m not sure I could be even if I tried. What I am is in thrall to them, which is to say afraid of making a fool of myself in front of them. At the moment, though, I am more afraid of the wasp. …. In years to come, I will know worse pain than wasp stings, know deeper humiliation, far greater fear. I will know that the pain I feel is as nothing compared to the pain of others. Wasps, never pleasant, will nonetheless become part of the shit of life one accepts as a given, so much so that their absence in Wordsworth, let alone in all those songs about summer, will make a kind of sense. To keep going you do have to ignore a lot.
Drew Bratcher was born in Nashville. He is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and received his MFA from the University of Iowa. His writing has appeared in the Oxford American, Paris Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Nowhere Magazine, Essay Daily, Garden & Gun, Image Journal, World War II, Military History Quarterly, Washingtonian, and others. Bub, an essay collection about growing up under the influence of country music and stories, is his first book. He lives outside Chicago. https://andrewbratcher.com/bio
Wasp People: Separating Fact from Fiction
Day 3 post-wasp-sting, and UC#4 is beginning the transition to Wasp-person.
Wasp People have been romanticized by Hollywood for far too long. This photo essay hopes to compare the popular image with the actual, mundane lives of Wasp People.
Semi-Sequitur: The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)
I'll tell you 'bout the heartache and the loss of God I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night The meager food for souls forgot I'll tell you 'bout the maiden with wrought iron soul - The Doors
Let us take a moment to reflect on the metaphysical juxtaposition of “the maiden with wrought iron soul” and the Northeast Texas Women with “cast iron curls”.
You wanna get a Lone Star girl With her cast iron curls And her aluminum dimples - Northeast Texas Women by Willis Alan Ramsey
Big Hair, Big Fun
I once worked with a female engineer and helicopter pilot. When the topic of East Texas ladies’ hair styles came up, she said, “Big hair, big fun.”
