I learned something kind of cool today, and if my non-extensive Google research is correct, a “young mated queen wasp” is living in Murray’s workshop.
Here’s how it happened.
A couple of weeks ago the weather was bitterly cold in this part of Ontario. We don’t heat with wood, but we sure do enjoy a fire, so we lit the wood stove one freezing Saturday morning. After a few hours our stock of wood on the back porch was low, so Murray headed to the big woodpile behind his shop to get some more. When he removed a log, a wasp fell out. Curious, he picked it up and gave it a little squeeze. That wasp was frozen solid as an hour glass-shaped bullet.
Then, because this is the kind of guy he is, Murray took the frozen little wasp to his shop, popped it into a plastic container, and set it on a shelf. The thermostat in the shop is set to about 10 degrees C, a lot warmer than the temperature outdoors that day.
When Murray was working in the shop today he heard a buzzing sound. You’re right; it was the wasp! It was crawling around the container, very much alive, so he took the lid off. In a very short time it flew away, probably looking for another cozy little nook.
Now that I’ve done “extensive research”, I think he may have set himself up for a bit of a problem. If this wasp-waisted girl lasts until spring, apparently she’ll lay her eggs and start a new colony. That’s not exactly good news, but it is pretty cool.
If you have any further, or more accurate, information about wintering wasps, I’d like to hear it.
That’s fascinating. I was shocked to discover that fish were frozen in winter. The world is an interesting place if you choose to pay attention. x
Wow. How cool. You will have to keep us posted on the outcome.