The Paper Makers
Posted by Jason on January 23, 2003
Q: there was a papernest on my deck in the sumer.It had gooy stuff in it. what was it.
A: If an animal is trying to eat the babies in a paperwasp nest, they often
knock them down on the ground. Sounds as though you found a nest that had
been torn down by some animal. The gooey parts were the babies that were
growing inside the nest cells. Each cell begins with an egg inside (the
queen lays these) and as the baby grows, it is fed by the adult wasps at
that nest. The babies are fat and good food for birds and some mammals.
The gooey stuff you saw was most likely what was left of the babies. I
always wonder if the predator was stung or not - seems like a hard way to
get a meal!
John Wiessinger ( January 23, 2003)