Many of us have had to deal with wasps in the warm season. For some, this meeting ended very badly. Sharp pain, burning, swelling at the site of the bite - all this is familiar to us firsthand. It is not for nothing that wasps are considered one of the most dangerous stinging insects. In some cases, wasp stings, like bees, can lead to human death. There are a huge number of different types of wasps in the world. Each of them is unique in its own way. But today we will talk about such a wasp, just the sight of which makes the blood freeze in your veins.
Description of appearance
The large wasp is called the spotted scolius or giant scolias.
- The size of females is from 32 to 55 mm, males are smaller in size - about 32 mm.
- The main color is black. The anterior part of the sternum is bright yellow. Wide wings with a purple tint.
- The front part of the back and abdomen are covered with small red hairs, the rest of the body is covered with long black hairs.
- The head is round, shiny, and yellow in color. The back of the head is matte, black. The head has curved antennae and wide-set eyes.
A photo of a large wasp is presented below.
What they look like
Entomologists know very well what hornets look like and will not confuse them with other insects.
The large wasp differs from other members of the family in the following characteristics:
- The head is larger, with a wide upper part. These Hymenoptera have 2 compound eyes and 3 simple ocelli.
- The head color varies between black, yellowish, orange or reddish brown interspersed with yellow spots. There are black-brown antennae on the head. The number of segments differs in females and males. The color of the jaw is black, brown or orange-yellow.
- The abdomen is rounded. In the area of its articulation with the chest, a beautiful thin waist line is visualized. In its color palette it resembles the common wasp, but the stripes are not so pronounced.
- At the end of the abdomen of working females and the uterus there is an ovipositor, which is a sting. If the insect manages to live calmly, then the sting is retracted into the abdomen and is not visualized. At its base there is a poisonous gland filled with a toxic substance. The sting is straight, smooth and has no jagged edges. A hornet can live with a used sting for a long time.
- Set of lower limbs - 3 pairs of legs, black, brown or yellow. Each limb includes a coxa, an acetabular ring, a proximal part, a tibia ending in a spur, and a tarsus.
The insect's wings are transparent with large cells . They are presented in 2 pairs: the front ones are large, the rear ones are small. While the hornet manages to live quietly, its front wings are connected together along the back.
During flight, the leading edge of the small wings is attached to the trailing edge of the large ones using special hooks. As a result, both right and both left wings create one aircraft.
Habitat of the Great Scolia
There are about 1 thousand species of Scolia in the world. About 25 live in the CIS countries. Three subspecies are distinguished in the world: Megascolia maculata bischoffi, Megascolia maculata flavifrons, Megascolia maculata maculata. The main part of these insects lives in tropical and subtropical zones. The huge wasp lives in North America, Africa, Southern Europe, the Middle East, Turkey, Crimea, Central Asia, and Russia.
Scolia the giant lives in forest, forest-steppe, and mountainous areas. It rises in the mountains to a height of 1150 m above sea level.
On a note!
The spotted wasp lives in areas where there are large lamellar beetles, since their larvae are needed for laying eggs of the wasp family.
Living life
Wasps take the construction of their homes responsibly. To begin with, the material is prepared - wood fibers are chewed, abundantly moistening them with saliva. The nest itself consists of 7-8 cells. Each of them contains about 600 cells. Where do hornets make their nests? Most often in attics, under the roofs of abandoned houses, in birdhouses and in hollow trees. Sometimes insects settle in the burrows of small animals underground.
In addition to nectar, giant wasps feed on tree sap, ripe fruits and berries. They, like Scolia, are predators that easily deal with grasshoppers, locusts and flies. The most important is the queen that survived the winter. In the spring, she awakens, looks for a place for a nest, works on the honeycombs and releases the first larvae from the laid eggs. Those, in turn, turn into working hornets.
Lifestyle of the giant scolia
Scolia giant or Scolia spotted
The largest wasp in the world is a primitive creature that leads a solitary lifestyle. It is active during the day and burrows into the forest floor and grass at night. Adults feed on fruit juices and flower nectar, but protein food is required to feed the larvae.
The female lays eggs directly into the body of the victim or feeds the larvae on her own, hunting large beetles and their offspring - rhinoceroses, some species of beetles. Attacks the victim, paralyzing with poison. In this state, the beetle does not die, but is immobilized. This allows you to keep food fresh for a long time. It takes Scolia wasp larvae 12 days to eat the beetle. As a result, only wings remain from the victim.
In most cases, the female burrows into the ground, finds the larva, stings, and lays an egg in the body. After some time, a parasitic larva appears, which eats the insides of the victim and, at the end of its development, pupates. It spends the winter in this state. In the spring, a young individual appears. The large wasp is active in May and June.
Interesting!
Unlike social wasps, representatives of large scolia do not communicate with each other, do not give each other signs or signals. The insect does not build complex nests, and the hunting process is hidden from everyone, since it occurs underground. The most famous types of skolia are steppe and giant.
Megalara Garuda
In 2012, a large wasp was discovered on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, which received the name Megalara Garuda, that is, Big Garuda. In Indonesian mythology, Garuda is the king of birds, one of the symbols of Indonesia. The insect, which fell into the hands of University of California entomology professor Lynn Kimsey, was almost seven centimeters in length. In addition to its gigantic size, the monster wasp had powerful jaws that were much larger than its forelimbs.
Megalara Garuda is a predator. Female giant wasps paralyze large insects with their stings and hide them in the ground next to the oviposition site. The emerging offspring feed on hidden prey.
Giant jaws, according to one version, are needed by the insect to protect the nest; according to another, they help the male hold the female during copulation. There is very little information about Megalara Garuda yet. The study of these giant wasps continues.
Reproduction of the Great Spotted Scolia
The mating season is limited, like many species. Young adults mate in May. In June, the female is busy laying eggs and obtaining food for the larvae. By the end of summer, the female is already planning victims who will become food and a place of development for young offspring.
The fertilized female digs a hole in the ground, drags the paralyzed victim there, and lays an egg on its abdomen. He gets out and covers the entrance with earth. Each larva requires a separate hole, its own victim. Further development and maturation of the offspring occurs without the participation of the female.
Interesting!
The larva begins to eat the victim from the least important organs, leaving it alive for a long time. The last thing to be damaged is the circulatory and nervous system. At the end of its development, it spins a cocoon, pupates, and remains in this form for the winter. In spring, young females appear and males are ready to mate.
What do they eat?
What hornets eat is the following::
- sugary plant juice;
- juice of ripe soft fruits (peach, pear, apple);
- berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries);
- sugary secretions from aphids;
- bee products.
These insects are excellent hunters. Their victims include grasshoppers, spiders, and dragonflies. They can also live by feeding on flies, small locusts, caterpillars and close relatives - bees.
Prey is killed with powerful jaws and stings, then moistened with saliva and chewed to form a slurry. But the adult does not swallow this portion of food; she feeds it to the hungry larvae during their dynamic growth.
In 24 hours, a large colony of Hymenoptera feeds its larvae up to 500 g of processed other insects. Some hornets, in addition to catching live prey, also constantly search for dead insects. To live, they do not disdain fish or meat, which people throw away as waste. They actively feed their offspring with all this.
Danger to humans, benefits of large scoliosis
Scolia giant or spotted scolia
Despite its impressive appearance, the spotted wasp does not pose any particular danger to humans. The insect lives in the wild and does not build nests under the roof of outbuildings, in attics or balconies. It is much more difficult to meet with it than with the usual social wasps.
The large wasp does not have toxic poison, and in terms of the strength of painful sensations and the possibility of developing an allergic reaction, it is much inferior to its social relatives. Unlike them, large scolias do not attack in swarms because they cannot transmit signals.
The temperament of spotted skolia is peaceful. She prefers not to enter into conflict, but to move away from an unfavorable place. He doesn’t pay attention to overly annoying offenders and continues to do his job.
By collecting nectar, large scolia actively participate in the pollination of certain plant species. They bring undoubted benefit by destroying beetle larvae that spoil garden crops and trees. Many land owners are not at all opposed to the giant Scolia living on their territory, and some specifically bring females onto their lands.
Fighting hornets in the house
Considering the danger of bites, the proximity of a hornet nest to people is undesirable. If there are uninvited neighbors under the roof of a house, in a barn or on a tree nearby, you need to get them out. It is useless to fight individual individuals - in order to destroy the queen and the entire colony, it is necessary to destroy the nest. This will help you do this:
- Chemicals. The plastic bag is treated from the inside with insecticides and placed on the nest. The top edges of the bag are glued with tape to the surface on which the nest is located, so that the hornets do not fly out. Effective means: Dichlorvos,
- Get,
- Raptor,
- Karbofos,
- Tetrix.
Sometimes, to combat hornets, traps made of plastic bottles with sweet liquid are used as bait. The insects fly into the bottle and can’t get out. But this method makes sense only with a small number of insects flying in from somewhere. The nest cannot be destroyed this way.
You can also try traditional methods, they are less effective, but they are accessible and mostly safe for people and pets:
- red pepper pods are hung next to the nest,
- poison insects with boric acid, adding meat or sweets as bait, and placing poison near the nest,
- the hornets' home is doused with boiling water,
- all exits from the nest are filled with foam - the hornets will die inside from lack of water and food,
- you can also fill the nest with foam from a fire extinguisher,
- make a water trap by placing a bucket of water so that the entire nest is flooded,
- It is believed that planted mint, geranium, and lemon balm repel hornets.
Other types of large wasps
Scolia spotted is the most beautiful representative of large insects. But there are giants whose external unattractiveness is combined with danger and aggressiveness.
Asian hornet
Asian hornet
The largest wasp in the world amazes with its size, behavior, and the strength of its poison. According to official data, in Japan and China, 50 people die every year from the bite of a giant wasp. We are talking about the Asian hornet Vespamandarinia, which belongs to the genus of true wasps. The size reaches 6 cm in length, the wingspan is 7.5 cm. The body color of the hefty insect is black and yellow.
Giant wasps live in forests and near water bodies. They are social wasps. The head of the genus is the female queen. She lays the foundation for the future wasp's nest. Huge insects build hives with the whole family. The finished structure reaches 80 cm in width, 50 cm in diameter.
To provide food for the larvae and satisfy their own hunger, working individuals make frequent raids on bee hives. Honey and nectar are eaten, paralyzed bees are taken to honeycombs to raise their young.
On a note!
Many tourists, having seen a huge wasp, try to examine it or photograph it. The insect perceives this as aggression and rushes to attack. The bite is comparable to piercing the skin with a hot nail. The poison is extremely toxic, but it is saved by the fact that the aggressor pulls out the sting and uses the poison sparingly. One bite injects about 2 mg of toxic substance.
Large wasps are dangerous for humans due to a strong allergic reaction and a general deterioration in health. Swelling, redness, rash, pain, decreased blood pressure, headache, signs of intoxication, breathing problems, and convulsions are observed. The situation becomes more complicated if the wasp attacked several times or there were several individuals.
Megalara garuda
Megalara garuda wasp
A new species of large wasp was discovered in Indonesia and officially introduced in 2012. The body size of the male is about 32 mm, the female grows to almost 5 cm. What distinguishes this huge representative from the wasp family is its powerful jaws and long mustache. Due to the terrifying appearance of the megalar garuda, local residents gave the name Komodo dragon. It belongs to the genus of sand wasps and is a predator because it eats other insects. Some sources call this species the largest wasp in the world.
Is it worth declaring war?
If you think that being around giant wasps is unacceptable, you can try using insecticides. But this method is rather dubious, since scolias do not have nests that could be destroyed. Therefore, getting rid of these insects is guaranteed to be quite problematic. And is it worth doing? After all, they, as a rule, do not pose a threat to humans.
Very often, ordinary bees and wasps, circling around us, cause fear and aggression. What can we say if there is a real giant nearby? But the neighborhood with giant wasps is much safer than with the more familiar representatives of the Hymenoptera. Even if we do not take into account that they protect gardens from pests, these insects are simply incapable of seriously harming humans. Believe me, you can coexist peacefully with giant wasps. To do this, it is enough not to provoke them into aggression.
Source
Lifestyle
The rules for the existence of hornets in nature are very similar to those of bees and ants. In order to survive during the cold winter and give birth to offspring every year, insects have to sacrifice someone and something. They sacrifice males, who die soon after mating. This way resources are not wasted on already “useless” individuals.
After all, in the hornet family, the females are the main ones. Therefore, they must prepare well for hibernation, survive it, and in the spring become the founder of a new colony. The uterus needs a large amount of protein to produce eggs and develop ovaries. In order to successfully overwinter, it eats very richly and accumulates a fat body.
Mating Features
The greatest activity in the hornet family is observed at the end of the warm period of the year, namely the end of August and the beginning of September. By this period, individuals of both sexes become adults. They all leave their home, swarm and mate. Thus, mating occurs before the onset of cold weather. Female hornets spend the winter pregnant.
Males die soon after mating. Females lead a solitary lifestyle. They feed heavily, and between meals they fly around the nearby territory in search of a safe place for winter shelter. Overwintering of a pregnant female hornet, which falls into suspended animation, is possible only in a secluded place where enemies and cold winds will not find her.
Wintering conditions
Crevices in rocks, tree hollows, shelters under stones and fallen trunks, and small cavities on the outside of unheated buildings or houses are well suited for this. There is no need to be afraid that the female will hide inside a human house. There's a good reason for this. When cold weather sets in, when the air temperature drops below 0C, all water freezes.
But the water in the hornets does not freeze. This is due to the fact that in the body of insects, water is replaced by glycerol. It does not freeze, but it slows down all life processes. This way, the glycerin cannot turn into ice and rupture the insect cells. If the hornet warms up prematurely, it will die during the next cold snap.
When the female hides for the winter in a heated human house, the warm air temperature will contribute to her premature awakening and the natural need to build a nest. If she manages to hide in a house from human eyes, then it will be very difficult for her to look for material to build the honeycomb of her “house”.
When she manages to build a nest, she will not be able to find enough food in the house to feed her offspring. Thus, she will doom him to certain death. Therefore, female hornets do not choose heated human houses for wintering.
A lot of female hornets die during harsh winters with little snow, as well as in the presence of winter thaws. If the female does not manage to hide well, she will become prey to various birds or small predators. Therefore, a significant number of hornets do not survive until spring.
Spring chores
The female hornet wakes up when the air temperature warms up to +15C. Young pregnant insects that wake up begin to actively hunt so that the embryos can develop into full-fledged eggs. In addition, the young female is looking for a suitable place to build her nest.
Help with a bite.
Old females also wake up, but they do not look for a place to build a nest. They scatter around the surrounding area. When the first cold days arrive, they stop their activity and freeze. As a rule, they die before they reach their second wintering. After a nest site has been found, the young female builds the first comb and lays her eggs there.
Only worker hornets emerge from the first eggs. The female must raise them. Then they take the baton into their own hands. Working individuals independently complete the nest and feed the larvae from later eggs. Already from these larvae males and females will grow. They will begin a new cycle in August. The lifespan of worker insects is only three to four weeks.
If you meet a hornet in early spring, it is most likely a pregnant female busy with procreation. She doesn't specifically touch people, but she's not afraid of them either. The female is not dangerous to you. She has no time to threaten anyone, because she has many more important things to do. Don't touch her. Let her reproduce her offspring.
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Invader Queens
This insect is unique among all other hornets in that it parasitizes the nests of its fellows:
- At the end of the summer season, the female black hornet looks for a hive of some small species of hornet, fights her way into it and destroys the queen. As a rule, only a few succeed, since soldiers and workers fiercely and completely protect their womb and will never recognize a new womb while the old one is alive. Of course, the individual that was able to capture the nest contributes to the emergence of new black hornets, which more than compensate for the death of the males and females of this species.
- Using special pheromones, the female black hornet, like a chameleon, disguises itself as representatives of another species. The workers determine by smell that this is their queen, whom they serve, and, as if nothing had happened, they continue their work of providing the nest with food and building material.
- After this, the female begins to lay eggs, from which larvae soon hatch. Working individuals, suspecting nothing, feed them until they become adults and ready to reproduce.
- Then swarming and mating occur. The males die, and the fertilized females fly away in search of new nests on which they can parasitize, or, if the cold season is ahead, they look for shelter for the winter.
Very rarely, black hornets build a hive and live together. This behavior is explained by the fact that in the area where they live, there is no one for them to parasitize, so the search for other people’s nests can end in failure and lead to their extinction.
Why is a bite dangerous?
Due to the fact that this insect is a parasite, its poison is stronger than that of its relatives, which are widespread in Russia. This is due to the fact that the female black hornet must kill her rival when capturing someone else’s hive.
Since her opponent belongs to the same family as she does, she is, accordingly, immune to the usual poison of representatives of related species. Therefore, to eliminate the enemy, nature awarded black hornets with additional toxins, allowing them to achieve their goals.
After being bitten by this insect, a person experiences the following symptoms:
- sharp throbbing pain;
- inflammation of the affected tissue at the site of the bite, accompanied by itching;
- dyspnea;
- cardiopalmus;
- headache;
- swelling of the mucous membranes;
- allergic reaction to a bite;
- Quincke's edema is possible;
- very rarely, in 5-6 percent of recorded cases, the consequence of a bite is anaphylactic shock, which ends in death without medical attention.
First aid for a bite:
- An ice compress on the affected area is required.
- To prevent an allergic reaction, take an antihistamine, such as prednisolone or suprastin.
Go to the hospital immediately if you have a high temperature, swelling of the mucous membranes, dizziness or headache, remember that in about 5 cases out of a hundred, a bite can result in death without medical intervention.
Biological features
Bumblebees belong to the Apiaceae family and are the closest relatives of honey bees. There are about 300 species of bumblebees in the world, which differ in the shape of the skeleton, the structure of the jaws, limbs and other characteristics. Often these differences are hardly noticeable to non-specialists, and it is impossible to distinguish the type of bumblebee with the naked eye.
Anyone who has ever seen a bumblebee can note that its size is much larger than ordinary bees. Individuals of some species of bumblebees can reach up to 3.5 cm in length. At the same time, the wings of bumblebees are small and do not look entirely proportional to the body.
In order to stay in the air, a bumblebee has to make about 400 movements of its wings per second. And these movements are not only up and down, they are rotational and flapping at the same time.
You can know in advance that a bumblebee is approaching thanks to its rather loud melodic buzzing. Their color can be very different - either coal-black or with stripes on the abdomen of yellow, orange or even red. The stripes on the body of bumblebees are far from decorative.
Bumblebee photo close up:
Lighter areas of the body are necessary for thermoregulation, since the body of a bumblebee in flight, when the pectoral muscles actively contract, can heat up to 40°C. This is also facilitated by the dense hairiness that completely covers the bumblebee. This ability to thermoregulate allows bumblebees to survive in almost any weather conditions.
Like mammals, bumblebees control their body temperature. They can separate the muscles they use to move their wings. By quickly moving individual muscles, they generate body heat.
For this reason, you can sometimes find a bumblebee motionless on the ground or on a flower. He doesn't die or get sick, he just heats up his body and they can't fly due to the wing muscles being torn off.
Bumblebees maintain a body temperature of 34 to 38 degrees Celsius, so bumblebees are common even on cold and rainy days in spring and summer. Only in winter, when the temperature drops, will they go into hibernation.
Types of insects
Paper wasps
Paper wasps are common in Southeast Asia and South America; about 30 species have been found in Russia. Paper wasps have a black and yellow color characteristic of this species,
The color of the antennae and wings differs slightly: these parts of the body are light brown. Insects live in colonies consisting of a queen and workers.
In the spring, the female scrapes the top layer from wooden surfaces, softens it with saliva and chews it, turning it into a sticky mass. In the chosen place, the uterus builds a paper stalk, at the end of which it forms two cells surrounded by a protective membrane. Eggs are laid in the cells, from which larvae soon emerge. The female feeds the larvae with secretions secreted by the thymus gland, and later with insects. The larvae develop into worker wasps that help the female build a nest.
Adult wasps feed on fruits and berries, especially grapes. At the end of August - beginning of September, wasps are especially active in destroying fruits, causing damage to gardening. Paper wasps also bring benefits by destroying garden pests, the remains of which are used to feed the larvae.
Vespina
Vespins are one of the subfamilies of paper wasps. Vespins include the most highly developed insects, common in Europe and Russia, East and Southeast Asia,
In India, North Africa and America, Australia and Madagascar. Wasps of this species differ from others in the presence of numerous hairs on the body and the structure of the abdomen: it seems to be chopped off at the waist.
Vespins settle in monogynous colonies: a single oviparous female is allowed in the nest. At the beginning of spring, females build nests protected by an outer shell, in which honeycombs attached to each other on supports are located in tiers. The first worker bees emerge from the laid eggs at the beginning of summer. A generation of young oviparous females hatches in mid-summer.
Stenogastrins
Stenogastrins are also related to paper wasps. They are found in Eastern India, Indonesia, and Indochina. Insects have a long dark body and differ from other wasps in that they fold their wings behind their backs: during the process of evolution, stenogastrins lost the ability to fold their wings longitudinally.
The species is distinguished by asocial behavior: most of the adult individuals fly away after hatching to organize new hives, while in other families the wasps remain to assist the queen. But in cases where the queen dies, a worker wasp can take its place.
Hornets
Hornets are the largest representatives of the family of social wasps living in the Northern Hemisphere. They differ from other species by a large rear head and a rounded abdomen in the front; their body length is up to 5.5 cm.
Hornets collect nest material from rotten trees and stumps, which is why their hives are brown in color. Hornets prefer sweet foods: fruit juice, nectar, aphid secretions. The larvae are fed on flies, small wasps, and bees.
Hornets destroy a large number of insect pests: grasshoppers, locusts, caterpillars, so they can be classified as beneficial insects.
Flower wasps
Insects are common in desert areas. Flower wasps are small - up to 1 cm - in size, their body is completely covered with yellow-black stripes, with yellow the predominant color.
Wasps feed on pollen and nectar; they carry pollen to their nests in their crops.
Females make nests on the ground or in tree branches, using a mixture of clay and sand with their own saliva. Hives consist of one, or less often of several cells, into which the female lays eggs. The cells are filled with a mass of pollen and nectar, after which the female seals them. The larva develops independently within 8-12 weeks, then pupates.
Solitary wasps
Insects are distributed throughout the European part of the continent.
Solitary wasps have a more pronounced waist than other species. The abdomen is rounded in the upper part, covered with streaks with a predominance of black color. Several characteristic stripes
coloration is located in the lower, sharply narrowed part of the abdomen.
To lay eggs, the female digs a hole in which she places a caterpillar with an egg laid inside it. Hatching from the egg, the larva eats the caterpillar. As the offspring grow, the female provides them with food in the form of caterpillars and beetles.
An adult insect feeds mainly on nectar and can cause some damage to ripe fruits by gnawing holes in them.
Classification
More than 300 species. Archaeoscolia hispanica known in fossil form
(130 Ma, Spain), Protoscolia sinensis (130 Ma, China), Cretoscolia montsecana
(130 Ma, Spain) and other species.
Subfamily ProscoliinaeProscolia Rasnitsyn, 1977Proscolia spectator Day, 1981
Subfamily Scoliinae
- Tribe
Campsomerini Campsomeriella
Betrem, 1941
Campsomeriella thoracica
(Fabricius, 1787)
Colpa
Dufour, 1841
Colpa klugii
(Vander Linden, 1827)
Colpa sexmaculata
(Fabricius, 1781)
Colpa quinquecincta
(Fabricius, 1781)
Dasyscolia
Bradley, 1951
Dasyscolia ciliata
(Fabricius, 1787)
Micromeriella
Betrem, 1972
Micromeriella curreola
(Klug, 1832) Tribe
Scoliini Megascolia
Betrem, 1928
Megascolia bidens
(Linnaeus, 1767)
Megascolia maculata
(Drury, 1773) - Scolia the giant
Scolia
Fabricius, 1775 fossil representatives
- †
Cretoscolia
†
Cretoscolia montsecana
(130 Ma, Spain) †
Cretoscolia conquensis
(130 Ma, Spain) †
Cretoscolia brasiliensis
(120 Ma, Brazil) †
Cretoscolia rasnitsyni
(120 Ma, China) †
Floriscolia
† Protoscolia
- †
Protoscolia sinensis
(130 Ma, China) †
Archaeoscolia
- †
Archaeoscolia hispanica
(130 Ma, Spain) †
Archaeoscolia senilis
(120 Ma, Mongolia)
Patience and work
Who do you think falls into the group of real hard workers among insects? These are ordinary and giant wasps! The photo eloquently conveys their painstaking work. Hornets guard the home, feed the queen and new larvae. As you can see, giant wasps work quite well together. This is a good basis for growing a family.
New rows of honeycombs are lined up and the nest becomes larger. It is noteworthy that worker hornets do not produce offspring, as they are sterile. But by the beginning of autumn, females appear in the family and are capable of reproducing. After mating with the drones, the wasps hide to wait out the long winter. The old queen and males that have completed their functions die. And the overwintered female again creates a new family in the spring.
Dangerous bugs
The biggest horse in the equestrian world, who is she?
Poisonous beetles that inject poison under the skin after biting are not found in nature. Despite this, there are bugs that suck human blood, and many beetles whose hemolymph contains the dangerous substance cantharidin.
Blister beetles
They leave blisters and abscesses on the body, which is where the name comes from. The poison cantharidin secreted by the beetles is dangerous even without biting the skin. They have an elongated body. which can be painted in black, red, brown stripes. About 150 varieties of this type of beetle live in Russia. They are most common in the forests of Krasnodar.
The body of the blister beetle is saturated with the poison cantharidin, which can cause blisters upon contact with skin.
If cantharidin enters the bloodstream, it can cause serious problems in the functioning of the body. A bitten person may develop liver, kidney, and bladder diseases. In large quantities, the toxic substance poses a mortal danger to humans. It is especially dangerous for children.
If a blister beetle is swallowed, immediate medical attention is required.
Bedbugs
There are about 40 thousand species of bedbugs, distributed throughout the earth. Contrary to the prevailing false belief, bed bugs are far from the only representatives of these unpleasant predatory insects. Examples:
- soldier bug;
- water strider bug;
- bread, beet, cabbage, berry bugs;
- harmful turtle;
- Hottentot bug.
Types of bedbugs are very diverse
Regardless of the species, bedbugs have excellent senses of touch and a sharp proboscis with which they pierce the skin. These are known bloodsuckers, despite the fact that most species prefer to feed on plant sap. For the purpose of self-defense, they secrete a caustic secretion from their glands, which repels birds and other enemies. They have colors in red, black, brown tones.
How to quickly recognize an insect
Knowing the characteristic signs of dangerous insects, you can try to avoid an attack.
Insects that bite humans leave marks on the body:
- redness;
- burning;
- itching;
- tumor;
- rash.
Signs of insect bites
If an allergic reaction is present, the signs may be more obvious, including fainting and death.
Adviсe
The insect sting must be immediately pulled out of the body, otherwise the poison will continue to flow out and spread even more. To prevent it from breaking, you need to try to squeeze it out with clean hands without squeezing. The bitten area is treated with alcohol or soapy water, after which ice is applied to it to relieve pain and prevent swelling.
