Ruud Kleinpaste: Paper wasps and their nests

In NZ, we have a number of wasp species that can cause a few problems: 

1) German Wasps (arrived after WW2) Vespula germanica 

2) The Common Wasp (arrived in the 1970-s) Vespula vulgaris 

Both these two species sting – no sense of humor! 

They nest in cavities: hollow trees, wall cavities and hollow trunks of trees, in your ceiling or roof space, etc. 

These wasps are often found eating honeydew in native forests, especially in the South Island. 

They will also hunt for insects (protein) in your garden (Monarch butterfly caterpillars and other sizeable insects). 

The Vespula species are tricky to control, kill and remove – best left to professional pest controllers. 

3) Australian Paper Wasp (been here for more than 100 years) Polistes humilis 

4) Chinese Paper Wasp (since 1979) Polistes chinensis 

5) European Paper Wasp (Since 2016) Polistes dominula 

These guys and girls sting too! 

Paper wasps do not go for the sweet stuff; they eat mostly caterpillars. Not a problem when they go for white butterfly caterpillars that damage your broccoli etc, but killing our native insects is not welcome. 

A few weeks ago —in Bannockburn— I ran into Susie Bassett of Waspol NZ Ltd collecting nests of paperwasps. This Company is based in Nelson. (Facebook Waspol NZ) 

They send the wasps (frozen) to US immunotherapy Laboratories where they develop products to desensitise people that are seriously affected by wasp stings through acute allergies. 

Wasp species have unique versions of venom – immunotherapy can save lives! 

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