Paper Wasps

Asian and Australian paper wasps have a similar life cycle.

Fertilised females hibernate through the winter, and emerge in spring to build a small nest that forms the basis of the colony. The female lays a few eggs and when they hatch she feeds the larvae and they become the basis of the new colony.

The `honeycomb' nest, made out of wood chewed and moulded by the wasps, grows rapidly over the summer months, measuring up to 20 cm wide and containing up to 200 wasps — much smaller than a common or German wasp nest. Its cells are in a single layer, and it does not have an outer covering like common and German wasp nests. Its roof is covered by a shiny secretion that acts as water-proofing. The nests hang from small shrubs and trees, stalks of vegetation, fences and walls, and often under the eaves of houses.