Have you ever wondered about the lifecycle of wasps? How long do wasps live on average? Where do they go during the winter? We will answer these questions below.
The life cycle of a wasp generally differs from species to species. There are two major categories of wasps – social and solitary.
Social wasps are those that live in colonies, such as paper wasps and yellow jackets.
In this colony, the worker wasps don’t live for more than a few weeks, while the queen can live longer.
Solitary wasps, such as digger wasps and thread-waisted wasps, build nests in groups, but each wasp has its own nest. They live for only one season.
In the following article, we will talk more about the lifespan of solitary and social wasps and their life cycle.
How Long Do Solitary Wasps Live?
Solitary wasps like the thread-waisted and digger wasps are usually spotted from June to August.
They can sometimes be confused with other bees or yellowjackets, social wasps. But there are major differences between these species.
Solitary wasps build their nests in the ground and have only one generation a year.
Solitary wasps that nest in the ground sometimes build their nests in a group close to each other.
But don’t be mistaken; these are individual nests with one female in each nest.
The female wasps build and provision their own nest. They will lay eggs and prey on various insects, paralyzing them.
They will then bring the paralyzed prey back to the nest and leave it for the larvae to feed on.
The adult females then die by the end of their breeding season, i.e., by the end of summer. The larvae will continue to pupate and emerge as adults next summer.
Solitary Wasp Life Cycle
As discussed in the above section, solitary wasps have only one generation per year, and the female dies at the end of the breeding season.
During the breeding season, the solitary female wasp digs a burrow in loose soil.
Once the burrow is ready, she will deposit her eggs in a cell and supplement it with prey for the larvae.
Female wasps attack other insects like spiders and caterpillars and paralyze the prey. They then drag it into the burrow as food for the larvae.
Some solitary species, like the spider wasps, capture spiders and lay one egg on each stored spider. The larva then feeds on it.
Some other species, like cuckoo wasps, leave their eggs in the nests of other wasps and bees.
The larvae of these wasps either feed on the resident larvae or starve them by feeding on their food source.
In the case of solitary wasps, the mother and larvae never meet because the female dies shortly after the breeding season.
After feeding, the larvae spin a silk cocoon to pupate within the nest. The larvae will then overwinter as pupae, eventually emerging as adults the following spring.
Female solitary wasps then mate with the males in the spring and lay eggs come summer to birth the next generation.
How Long Do Social Wasps Live?
Social wasps are wasps that live in colonies like ants and bees. Wasps like paper wasps and yellowjackets are social wasps.
Within the colony, the lifespan of the wasp depends on whether it’s a queen, worker, or drone.
Workers
A large number of wasps in a wasp colony are worker wasps. As their name suggests, worker wasps are the members who spend their lives working for the colony.
Worker wasps are the unmated females within the colony and do not lay eggs. They carry out various tasks like building the nest, maintaining it, gathering food, and protecting the larvae.
Because they spend most of their time away from the nest and working, their bodies are susceptible to faster breakdown. And for this reason, worker wasps rarely survive beyond a couple of weeks.
In fact, on average, an adult worker wasp lives anywhere from 12-22 days.
Drones
Drones are the male wasps that hatch out of the eggs the queen lays at the end of the season. The sole purpose of the drones is to mate with future queens and fertilize the eggs.
They do not have long life spans either, usually dying shortly after mating. Their lifespan can be slightly longer than the worker wasps but far shorter than the queen wasps.
Drones usually live a very sheltered and sedentary life within the nest.
Sometimes, if there are too many drones in the nest or the food isn’t sufficient for the colony, the worker wasps will kill the drones.
Queens
Queen wasps are the reproductive females of the colony that mate with drones to lie eggs in the next season.
Queens produce a certain pheromone that prevents the development of reproductive organs in the other female worker wasps.
Queen wasps live up to a year. Once they mate with the drones during mating season, queen wasps hibernate during the winter.
They then emerge during spring and lay the first eggs that hatch into worker wasps.
The last batch of eggs gives birth to future queens and drones that mate and start a colony the following year.
So a queen wasp’s life spans from the fall when she mates and becomes fertilized until the next fall when she lays eggs for the next generation and then dies off with the old colony.
Social Wasp Life Cycle
Social wasps go through four life stages – egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Social wasps are social insects and therefore live in colonies.
The queen wasp lays all the eggs in the colonies. They start laying eggs in the spring and continue until summer.
The initially laid eggs hatch to become worker wasps – infertile females that help build the nest and protect the future offspring of the queen wasp.
Toward the end of summer, the queen lays eggs that will hatch into drones and future queens.
Wasp eggs may take around 5 days to 2 weeks to hatch. Once they hatch, the larvae emerge and stay within the nest as the queen and worker wasps take care of them.
They feed on insects captured by the worker wasps and consume a high-protein diet.
The larval stage continues for about 9 to 24 days, during which the larvae consume a lot of food and shed their skin a couple of times.
After shedding their skin for the last time, the larvae will pupate, sometimes within a silk cocoon.
The larvae will transform into adults in the pupal stage in about 8-22 days, depending on the species.
At the end of this, the adult wasp will emerge from the cocoon and begin feeding to gain strength.
After a few days as an adult, the fertile female wasps will mate with the drones and, once fertilized, will hibernate for the winter months.
They will emerge the following spring and start laying eggs to rebuild their old colony.
Meanwhile, the old queen will die with the drones and the old colony.
Can Wasps Die of Loneliness?
Yes, wasps can die of loneliness. There are two types of wasps – social and solitary, and both can die of loneliness.
As their name suggests, social wasps live in colonies and are heavily dependent on them for food, shelter, and mating.
They have a hard time surviving alone and can quickly die without their colony.
Often, wasp nests are disturbed when they are discovered.
When nests of social wasps are disturbed, they lose their sense of structure and organization, making them vulnerable to external predators.
Solitary wasps, on the other hand, may survive alone since they, anyway, do not operate in colonies, but they can still die of loneliness.
Since, for many wasps, their main purpose is to mate, without reproductive opportunities, they might die sooner than their life spans.
How Long Do Wasps Live Indoors?
If wasps are stuck indoors without access to their nests, nectar, and other things needed for survival, they will not live up to their full life span.
Wasp nests also regulate temperature for warmth or cold. Being stuck in any environment besides their nest could be physically detrimental to the wasp.
However, the situation is different when a wasp nest is found indoors. Wasps can easily survive if they build a nest indoors.
Their survival is dictated largely by access to a nest and not the outdoors per se.
A wasp indoors may die without a nest within a few days or weeks. However, this might differ from species to species.
For instance, the yellow jacket, a social wasp, can survive without food for a few weeks. Therefore, if a yellow jacket is stuck indoors, it might be able to live longer than any other species of wasp.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are wasps scared of?
A combination of clove, geranium, and lemongrass essential oils can effectively repel wasps. Mix the oils with soapy water and spray areas where wasps may build nests.
Peppermint oil can also be used as a wasp repellent and can be added to hanging baskets and planters. Different scents can be used to keep wasps away.
What kills wasps instantly?
If you suspect a wasp infestation, identify the nest and wasp species before treating it.
Wear protective gear before using any treatment method, such as nest drenching, nest dusting, perimeter spraying, baiting, homemade sprays, or traps.
Baiting and traps can be used to reduce wasp infestations. If you suspect a paper wasp infestation, contact licensed pest control personnel instead of removing the nest on your own.
Do wasps die or hibernate?
Queen wasps hibernate over winter and build nests in the spring in the ground, trees, walls, or buildings. The drones and workers are not so lucky.
The nest is made of wood pulp and has internal chambers where the queen lays eggs that hatch into larvae.
The larvae pupate and become workers who help rear new larvae and queens.
In the fall, male wasps mate with new queens, and all wasps except the new queens die. O
ld nests are not reused, but new ones may be established nearby. Wasp nest treatment is not possible between November and March.
What is the life cycle of a wasp?
Social wasps have a life cycle that includes four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
The queen wasp lays all the eggs in the colony, which hatch into worker wasps that protect and care for the future offspring.
Toward the end of summer, the queen lays eggs that will hatch into drones and future queens.
The larvae feed on insects and shed their skin before pupating, which lasts 8-22 days.
Once the adult wasp emerges, it feeds to gain strength, and the fertile female wasps mate with drones before hibernating for the winter.
In the spring, they start laying eggs to rebuild the colony while the old queen and drones die.
Solitary wasps, on the other hand, have only one generation per year, and the female dies at the end of the breeding season.
The female wasp digs a burrow in loose soil and deposits her eggs in a cell, along with prey for the larvae.
Some species lay one egg on each stored spider, while others leave their eggs in the nests of other wasps and bees.
The larvae feed on the prey or resident larvae, spin a silk cocoon to pupate, and overwinter as pupae before emerging as adults in the spring.
Female solitary wasps mate with males in the spring and lay eggs in the summer for the next generation.
Wrap Up
The lifespan of wasps depends on what types of wasps they are – social or solitary. Solitary wasps do not live in colonies and build individual nests.
They usually survive only for one season; every year, there is a new generation of solitary wasps.
Social wasps, on the other hand, operate in colonies. Within the colony, there’s a queen wasp, worker wasps, and drones, i.e., male wasps.
The worker wasps live for about 12-22 days, while the drones die shortly after mating with the future queen wasps.
The queen wasps survive for about a year until they lay eggs and birth the next generation of wasps.
Once new queens are fertilized and go into hibernation, the old queens die with their colony.
Thank you for reading, I hope you got all the details you were looking for!
Reader Emails
Over the years, several of our readers have inquired about the lifecycle of wasps, and we were inspired to write this article because of these letters.
Here is a selection of these emails for you to go through as well.
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