How Do Wasps Take Leaves to Make a Nest?
WouterDuring the spring, a queen wasp begins building a nest for herself. The nest consists of a hexagonal-shaped cell. The nest cavity is usually 9/32 to 5/16 inch wide. This type of nest is often found in old tree stumps, rocks, or in the ground.
Nests are largely dependent on the amount of pollen present in the environment. During the nest construction process, fertile eggs are produced. The female bee collects pollen, honey, and other nectar, mixes them together to form food, and lays one egg in each cell. The cells are then lined with the leaf segments.
The female bee chews the leaf segment into tiny pieces, then overlaps the pieces to form egg cells. These cells are then surrounded by a wall of chewed leaves. The overlapping ovals are then covered with a circular leaf piece to seal the cell.
During the nest construction process, the larvae turn the chewed wood into a paste. This paste is then used to construct the nest. The worker wasps then take over the collection of nest material. These workers will lay the eggs in the nest, which are then fertilized.
During the nest construction process, a female wasp will carve up about 10,000 tiny green discs. These discs are used to line the egg chamber doors. The egg chamber doors are then covered with a circular leaf piece.
The leafcutter bee is a good example of the “best of the best.” The female bee collects the pollen and honey, mixes the materials, and then lays one egg in each cell. The nest is made of circular leaves, wood, and soil. The nest is about four to eight inches long and the eggs are found at the back.
