When mentioning wasps, an association arises with an annoying insect with a striped black and yellow abdomen. In fact, there are a huge number of types. Representatives of families differ in size, body structure, and reproductive characteristics. All types of wasps are united by a love for sweet fruit juice, nectar and fermented drinks. Female insects actively care for their offspring, devoting the bulk of their lives to this.
Features of the structure of the insect wasp
The classic insect wasp resembles a bee in appearance, but is distinguished by a large variability in the size of its yellow-black striped body - from one and a half centimeters to ten.
Adults have four membranous wings and a barrel-shaped or fusiform abdomen covered with hairs. On the head of the insect there are large eyes that have a special structure and make it possible to look in different directions at the same time.
Also on the head of the wasp you can see special antennae, which replace several organs at once: smell, taste and touch. With the help of these devices, the insect is able to build a house for itself by measuring the size of the cells. The wasp's powerful jaws easily process plant matter, turning it into food or nesting material. Wasp sting and the danger of a bite
One of the interesting features of the wasp, which distinguishes it from other insects of a similar species, is its flexibility. The elongated body with a very narrow “waist” can be folded almost in half, allowing you to bite from any position.
The wasp's sting is located at the end of the body and serves as a source of poison. Typically, when attacking an insect, it uses not only its sting, but also its jaws, the bite of which is very painful. Wasp venom is incredibly dangerous for people prone to allergies. In some cases, it can cause respiratory arrest and death.
Operating system kernel
When it comes to the structure of an operating system, the most basic thing is the kernel. There are two main directions in designing OS kernels - a monolithic kernel and a microkernel (as well as many variations and combinations of these solutions).
A monolithic kernel means that the entire operating system is one large program that has maximum access to computer resources. They try to include as many useful functions as possible. The line between OS and non-OS is very abstract and depends on decisions made by the OS designers. For example, drivers for some devices or a graphical interface for some operating systems will be part of the system, but for other operating systems they may simply be user applications.
The main advantage of the monolithic kernel idea is high speed. In this case, a failure in one part of the OS leads to a stop of all parts of the system. The obvious solution to this problem is a microkernel. Instead of putting everything possible into the framework of one program, only the most necessary is taken, the minimum that is necessary for the operation of the OS. All other parts will work at the next level, and to the user they will look like normal running applications.
If some part of such a system causes an error, it will not particularly affect the operation of the OS. For example, in Linux or Unix, the graphics subsystem is not part of the kernel, and if something goes wrong with the display of windows and buttons, the OS will still continue to function, and the graphical interface can be restarted. The disadvantage of this version of the OS implementation (through isolation of different subsystems from each other) is the low speed of operation.
In the operating system there is always a process with which the user interacts. For example, when the system starts, a graphical or text interface process starts to enter a password. Once the password is entered correctly, the next process is created, such as the bash command line interpreter, etc.
After the OS boots, the system kernel is in a state of waiting for events. Events can be different, for example, software or generated by equipment (for example, in the absence of activity, a timer has triggered - the monitor goes off, or some packet has arrived over the network - it needs to be processed). The kernel also provides process dispatching (ensuring the continuous operation of multiple processes) and handles exception situations (force majeure events such as “the program has performed an illegal operation and will be closed”).
When computing power was weak, one process was processed at a time. But as power increased, new problems arose in the operating systems.
Since the operating system provides processes with access to computer hardware and system resources, there is a need for coordinated work of different tasks. The OS must launch several processes, allocate the necessary resources and contain some kind of system to protect one process from another (for example, use memory separately).
To solve this problem, virtual memory is used, in which independent addressing schemes are used for individual processes. For example, a hard drive or other media can be used as a temporary data storage. Virtual memory also protects memory between applications. There is a virtual agent that shares virtual memory between applications and makes sure that processes do not have access to other people's memory.
The illusion of multitasking is achieved by switching the processor very quickly between multiple applications. Each individual process in the OS contains an identifier, a unique name - a number. It is necessary so that you can allocate memory or change the state of the process and its priority.
The process contains information about the state of the program counter (CPU register). The program counter, depending on the architecture, indicates the current or next process. The process also includes information about the status of I/O devices and pointers to memory. In other words, in the OS, each process contains a description and a set of properties that allow you to “freeze the process” at any time and, if necessary, postpone its execution, and then return and continue execution (with a completely similar previous state of all environmental parameters).
The data structure that is used by the OS to represent a process is called Process Control Block. When a new process starts, the OS creates this data structure.
Processes are usually created by the OS itself, but often processes spawn new child processes.
To terminate the process, one of the following conditions is necessary:
- operating system signal HALT.
- user action.
- error.
- termination of the parent process.
Processes running in the OS are organized into a queue. At the same time, it makes no sense to place processes that are waiting for a response from I/O devices in such a queue. When their time comes, they will still be in a waiting state and dependent on the hardware. These processes use a separate state in which the process is blocked. This state can be used, for example, when waiting for an event, say, the screen shows “click on the OK button.”
Blocked processes are also built into a separate queue, which exists in parallel with the main one. Blocked queues are grouped by events (a separate queue of processes waiting for a response from the network interface, a separate queue waiting for a response from the disk, etc.).
To prevent the process from occupying memory, it is suspended - for example, transferred to disk, with the ability to be restored (swapping). Suspending can occur by decision of the OS or user, by schedule, or by a command from the parent process.
Any OS contains information about the status of processes and resources. For this purpose, memory tables are used that are responsible for the main and secondary memory. They contain information about the provision of primary and secondary memory to processes, as well as security attributes for access to shared memory and data required for virtual memory operation.
In addition to memory tables, file tables and I/O tables are used. The latter store information about the status of I/O operations and the memory address used for input or output (if a file is loaded from the hard disk, the OS must know where in main memory this file is loaded).
Processes can be run in user or system mode. In the first case, the process cannot do any harm - it does not have absolute access to the computer hardware. In system mode there is such access, so a process can theoretically perform destructive actions, for example, reading the memory of another process.
When switching a process, the following procedure occurs. The state of the process (registers) is saved. The control block of the process that is currently running is then updated. The process control block is transferred to the appropriate queue (ready, blocked, suspended). Based on the queue of processes ready to run, another process is selected to run. The control block of the process to switch to is then updated, the memory management data structures are updated, and the state of the process is restored.
Distinctive features of wasps and bees
A famous children's cartoon character called wasps "the wrong bees" who make the "wrong honey." In fact, the difference between insects is very great. Many people remember what a wasp looks like. This creature is larger in size than a bee and much more aggressive in behavior.
But the main distinguishing feature of insects is their sting. In a bee, it has large serrations and a knot at the end, which is why it gets stuck during a bite and remains in the body of the victim. Left without a sting, the bee dies.
The wasp attack weapon is distinguished by the absence of a knot and small notches. Thanks to this, it is easily pulled out and makes it possible to sting several more times.
Wasp insect habitats
Wasps are considered one of the most common insects on the planet. They are widespread not only in all Russian regions, but also in Europe, northern Africa, Canada, the Australian continent, and Latin American countries.
They are absent only in the Sahara Desert, the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and in Arctic and Antarctic ice.
Varieties of insect wasp
There are a huge number of different types of wasps. The classification is based on the appearance of insects, their habitats, lifestyle, diet and many other criteria. The most common types include:
Paper wasps
This type of insect is also called house wasps because of their habitat: they build their nests on the walls and attics of residential buildings. The homes of paper wasps look quite original - they are round in shape and made of paper reminiscent of parchment.
The material for the nest is made by the wasps themselves, chewing wood fibers with their jaws and holding them together with salivary secretions.
Flower wasps
Small individuals, about a centimeter long. They live among flowers and feed on pollen and nectar. Such insects live in earthen burrows or make nests in branches. The building material for the houses of flower wasps are clay and earth grains smeared with saliva.
Hornets
In the presented photos of wild wasps you can see images of the largest and most dangerous representatives of this family. Hornets reach a length of up to five and a half centimeters. A hornet sting can cause severe anaphylactic shock, which can be fatal.
Sparkles
Beautiful iridescent insects that attract attention with their bright colors. They differ in that they are able to parasitize other insects, most often butterflies.
Germans
A type of wasp in which the difference between males and females is very noticeable. Males are large and look like ordinary wasps, while females are born wingless and look like hairy ants.
Scolia
A very beautiful species, individuals of which look like butterflies of different sizes (their size varies from a centimeter to ten).
Typhia
Small wasps that are black in color. They hunt for the larvae of cockchafers, in search of which they dig tunnels in the ground.
Other species of these lepidopterans are less common. Basically, these are wasps that live in the ground and prey on spiders, caterpillars and ants.
Shanghai glitter
The larvae of this species develop by eating the caterpillars of the oriental moth and peach moths located in the cocoon. The female Shanghai shiner makes a small hole in the cocoon and paralyzes the insect with the help of her ovipositor. When the glitter stings the caterpillar, it stops developing. After this, the female seals the hole in the cocoon with her saliva. The larva eats the caterpillar and spins its own cocoon inside the old one.
Behind the beautiful appearance of the wasps lies a rather cruel character.
Shanghai spangles are found in South and East Asia, and the Caucasus.
Features of insect nutrition wasp
According to the way they feed, all wasps can be divided into two main groups:
- herbivores;
- predators.
The first group is quite harmless and eats pollen, juice of berries and fruits, and sweet and sticky secretions of aphids.
Predators are quite aggressive. They attack spiders, beetles and large insects. They also look for various types of larvae in the ground. Carnivorous representatives of the wasp family attack the victim and immobilize it with their poisonous sting. The poison does not kill potential food, but only immobilizes it, preserving it for a long time.
Lifestyle
In spring, black wasps collect nectar and spend the night in tree hollows, flowers, plants, and grass. In May-June, they begin to dig burrows to create offspring, which only the queen can produce. In each colony there is only one queen and all the other wasps carefully protect her.
The depth of the tunnel can be 3 cm. At the end of the hole there is a cell for the larva. To prevent anyone from getting inside the tunnel during the absence of the black wasp, it is blocked with a pebble or an earthen breast.
While hunting, the queen looks for a spider and paralyzes it with her poison. She cannot fly with a heavy load, so she drags her prey along the ground. Having placed the spider in the prepared cell, the queen lays an egg on top of the body, which after a few hours transforms into a larva.
Over the course of 2 weeks, the new individual goes through a full stage of development. During this period, the larva feeds exclusively on the prepared body of the spider, eating it gradually. First it consumes the reproductive and excretory systems, then moves on to other organs, leaving the nervous and respiratory systems at last. This is necessary so that the spider remains alive until the larva fully matures.
At the end of the cycle, a cocoon is obtained, and after a few more days the black wasp imago hatches , which prefers nectar. If the larva was laid at the end of summer, then without having time to go through the entire cycle, it can remain over the winter in the hole in the form of a pupa, so that when spring arrives, it can hatch into the world.
For each larva the queen forms a separate burrow. Blacks generally do not produce large nests. But wasps do not fly alone; if this happens, then solitary black predators are called universal. Such individuals feed on bedbugs and poisonous spiders. They are very strong and resilient.
Peculiarities of insect wasp reproduction
Based on their lifestyle, there are also two main categories: social wasps and solitary wasps. In the first case, the uterus lays eggs. She herself determines the location of the future nest, then builds its cellular floors, into which she then lays eggs.
The queen is fertilized only once; the clutch consists of approximately two thousand eggs. The hatched larvae turn into pupae and then grow into adult workers.
Solitary wasps reproduce by mating. Females prepare nests in the same way, sealing the laid eggs in them and leaving paralyzed insects to feed future larvae. The larvae of solitary wasps develop independently.
Description
A wasp builds a nest.
Solitary wasps live separately. They personally build nests of strange shapes. All adult insects can reproduce. Nests are built in secluded corners: in spaces between walls, under roofs, in the soil. Only some species live without building nests. These wasps live in naturally created wood holes.
Social varieties live in large families. The nest is built by the queen, and not every adult insect can reproduce. In some cases, several thousand individuals live in such colonies, and only the queen can reproduce. Infertile wasps are classified as workers, while fertile ones are called queens.
Interesting fact : most Hymenoptera are able to change their lifestyle from solitary to social. This process is carried out in several stages.
How to protect yourself from a wasp
Wasps, unlike bees, do not produce honey. Their bites are painful and sometimes dangerous. These insects often attack bees and bumblebees that pollinate plants. But it cannot be said that they only bring harm. Many wasps destroy caterpillars, flies and beetle larvae.
Wasps cause a lot of trouble for summer residents and lovers of outdoor recreation, who are always concerned with the question of how to deal with wasps. Chemicals are sometimes not enough, so it is better to just be careful: do not walk barefoot on the ground, and destroy nests only in late autumn, when they are empty.
Greenish glitter
This type of glitter is one of the most beautiful and colorful. The number of these insects is sharply declining. The body of greenish wasps is long - up to 9 millimeters. The color is uneven, the body has a golden hue.
This species of sparkle lives in Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Sometimes they are found in the western part of our country, in the Caucasus and northern Siberia. They live in open forest areas, forest edges, clearings and meadows. But the features of their life are not fully studied. The greenish shiner parasitizes various hymenoptera; it infects the larvae of the odiner wasp when they are about to turn into a pupa.
On chamomile petals, the glitter wasp looks even more impressive and surprising.
