Wasps
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder.
The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor.
As bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors.
Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey.
The most commonly known wasps are yellowjackets and hornets.
They are eusocial, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers.
Eusociality is favoured by the unusual haplodiploid system of sex determination in Hymenoptera, as it makes sisters exceptionally closely related to each other.
However, the majority of wasp species are solitary, with each adult female living and breeding independently.
Solitary wasps parasitize almost every pest insect, making wasps valuable in horticulture for biological pest control of species such as whitefly in tomatoes and other crops.
Nest building
At least one species of wasps have shown an intuitive knowledge of geometry that help construct and correct mistakes while building nests, new research has shown.
The yellow paper wasps build nests from paper-like materials made from wood pulp and hardening saliva.
The nests are built by placing hexagonal (six-sided) structures side by side to make a straight structure.
The research has found that during the construction process, if a pentagon (five-sided) cell is constructed instead of a hexagon, the wasps will add a heptagon (seven-sided) cell to correct the mistake.
Conversely, when a heptagon is added during the construction, the wasps will insert a pentagon.
This is done to make sure that the nest, often hanging from walls or trees, is built straight.
If the extra cell is not introduced, the nest will not be stable and end up shaped like a hat or a saddle.
These principles have been documented in non-living substances such as graphene or in viral outer coat which is driven by genetics.
The fact that these organisms can employ these geometrical rules makes it a behavioural trait. Somewhere, during their evolution, wasps would have learnt to coordinate and rectify the mistake while building the nest.
The researchers also noticed that when in close proximity, cells are placed in a particular order so that the angles and the sides of the cells match.
However, over long distances, the order is lost and the cells are not symmetrically placed.
This study shows the immense computational ability possessed by wasps.
They are able to calculate length, angle and use that information to build a geometrical structure.
The fact that they are able to measure things and maintain uniformity is an incredible feat for an organism that has a small brain.
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