If you are stung you should pull out any stings left in the skin and wash the area with soap and water, according to NHS advice. Doctors recommend applying ice or a cold flannel to the site for 10 minutes and elevating the area to reduce swelling. You can also take over-the-counter remedies such as antihistamines and painkillers. Source: NHS. At hospital, Mr Cockroft was given medication and was kept in for observation to check he did not have an allergic reaction.
Some people may have a severe allergic reaction to a wasp sting known as anaphylaxis. It is a medical emergency and can be fatal if not treated.
What's the point in wasps? Wasp nests calls increase fivefold. What's really the point of wasps? Why are there wasps in my bathroom? This means they can be very annoying if you want to relax outside your own home. Here there are several ways to get rid of the wasps without resorting to killing them.
If you want to relax on the patio the best way to discourage these insects is to move any potted flowers away from the house. Some perfumes also have a similar aroma to flowers, so another way to keep the wasps away is not to wear perfume while outdoors.
For those who have no qualms about killing wasps, there are several ways to do this. One is by creating your own homemade wasp trap. A wasp trap can easily be made with items found around the home. All that is needed is a jar with a lid, some orange juice and a spoonful of jam. Create a hole in the jar lid which is just big enough to allow a wasp to crawl into. The jar should then be half filled with orange juice and the jam smeared under the lid.
At least half of known wasp species are parasitic, and these wasps are very useful in crop agriculture as pest controllers—there are even factories that mass-produce these wasps to sell to farmers! You have probably not noticed these small, non-stinging wasps, despite their numbers and importance. If you live in Europe or North America, you probably know wasps as the yellow and black striped yellow-jacket or hornet that has a nasty sting if you anger it at your summer picnic Figure 1B.
If you live in more tropical areas of the world Southeast Asia, South America, or Africa , you might know wasps as small, blackish stinging flies that live in big paper nests Figures 1C—E. These stinging wasps are the species you probably notice and might not like. You notice them because there are lots of them, in colonies just like honeybees.
These are social wasps and, just like honeybees, they have a queen who lays the eggs and lots of workers who raise the brood. There are about 1, species of social wasps, but you have probably only noticed the species that are found nesting near or in! The wasps you notice do sting, but so do almost all the 22, species of bees and most of the 11, species of ants.
The stinger of a wasp evolved from an ovipositor—the tube used by female insects to lay eggs. Bees, wasps and ants evolved stings to defend themselves and their nests, or to hunt prey. Wild bees are just as likely to sting you as wild wasps are. And anyway, it is only the female wasps that sting: males do not have a stinger. Like many insects, wasps carry out lots of important jobs in nature, which help us to live healthy and happy lives. These jobs are called ecosystem services [ 3 ].
The most important ecosystem service provided by wasps is pest control. Wasps are predators, which means they hunt live prey like flies, caterpillars, and spiders as a source of protein. The wasps that you see out and about are the hunting adults. But, the adults do not eat the prey; they feed it to the developing brood. It is the baby wasps that are the meat-eaters, not the adults. In social wasp species, the babies give the adults that feed them a sugary reward.
So, predator wasps help to keep other arthropod populations under control. Without these wasps, we would be flooded with flies, caterpillars, spiders, and other arthropods. Wasps provide us with free, eco-friendly natural pest-control services. In a world without wasps, we would need to use more toxic pesticides to control the insects that eat our crops and carry diseases.
Wasps also pollinate. Remember, the adult wasps do not eat the prey; instead, they gather and eat sugar from the nectar of flowers, or from your sugary drinks! They pollinate the flowers they visit, just like bees do. But wasps are not as fussy as bees—they will visit any flower. This means wasps might not be as efficient at pollination as bees are. However, being less fussy means that wasps may be useful back-up pollinators in habitats, such as cities and farmland, where there are not enough of the right kinds of flowers for bees to thrive.
Wasps may become more important pollinators in the future, as more of the natural world becomes disturbed and urbanized by humans.
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