Geographic Range
Eumenes fraternus
, a species of potter wasp, is native to the Nearctic region. It is found in eastern
North America and the eastern United States, occuring as far west as Ontario in Canada,
and Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas in the United States.
Habitat
Eumenes fraternus
lives in temperate forests, at woodland edges, and in shrubby fields. These wasps
are also found in suburban or agricultural areas. Juveniles live in small domes that
the mother constructs with mud. These domes are found on shrubs, bushy plants, and
various overhangs that are anywhere from less than 1 meter off the ground to about
5 meters high in the treeline. The egg domes are usually found on the outside of forest
edges.
- Habitat Regions
- temperate
- terrestrial
- Terrestrial Biomes
- savanna or grassland
- forest
- Other Habitat Features
- suburban
- agricultural
Physical Description
Eumenes fraternus
is small and delicate, measuring about 9.5 to 19 mm long. The body is black and shiny,
and ivory markings are present on the face, thorax, and abdomen. The first abdominal
segment is long and stalk-like. Wingspan ranges from 8 to 12.5 mm and wings are a
metallic bluish-brown. Females are slightly larger than males. The species can be
distinguished from close relatives
Eumenes crucifera
and
E. verticalis
by a shorter pubescence of the scape, which is less than 0.8x mid ocular diameter.
In the closely related species, the scape has longer hairs. This wasp undergoes incomplete
metaphorphosis and has immature stages differing from adults.
- Other Physical Features
- ectothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- female larger
Development
Female potter wasps (
Eumenes
) lay fertilized eggs in a dome constructed with mud. The sex of each of these eggs
is genetically determined by a single gene loci with many alleles. Once the eggs hatch,
the larvae grow and develop in the pot and eat paralyzed
caterpillars
that the mother provides for sustenance. Potter wasp development occurs solely within
a closed environment, and little is known about the metamorphosis between juvenile
and adult stages. Development can be put on hiatus for overwintering. In this case,
the egg remains within the mud dome until conditions are appropriate for the wasp
to continue development. Once the wasp reaches adulthood, it burrows out of the nest.
- Development - Life Cycle
- metamorphosis
- diapause
Reproduction
Eumenes fraternus
has a short life cycle, and thus can spawn two or three generations within one season.
Mating occurs in the spring, summer, and fall, and the species overwinters during
the colder winter months. Research has not yet determined if these wasps are polygynous
or polygynandrous.
- Mating System
- polygynous
- polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Reproduction in potter wasps is not well understood. Courtship, mating, and oviposition
occur in the spring, summer, and fall, and potter wasps can spawn two to three generations
between winters. Females are oviparous and lays one egg in each mud pot they construct.
Females may construct many pots to house all of her eggs.
- Key Reproductive Features
- seasonal breeding
- sexual
- fertilization
- oviparous
Male
Eumenes fraternus
do not invest in the offspring, except to contribute gametes. Females construct mud
domes where the eggs mature. They also paralyze caterpillars and deposit them into
the dome for nourishment. Afterwards, female potter wasps do not tend to the pot and
do not stay long enough to see the adults emerge.
- Parental Investment
- female parental care
-
pre-fertilization
- provisioning
-
protecting
- female
-
pre-hatching/birth
-
provisioning
- female
-
provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
Potter wasps are able to produce 2 to 3 generations within one season.
Behavior
Potter wasps are solitary wasps, living on their own or in groups. They are known
for constructing miniature spherical pots or spheres on a variety of plants or overhangs.
Like their relatives, they hunt for caterpillars and paralyze them to feed them to
their young. Females are not particularly aggressive and do not defend their nests,
but the males are known to defend good feeding areas quite aggressively from members
of their same species.
Home Range
The size of the home range of potter wasps in not known.
Communication and Perception
Eumenes fraternus
is a solitary wasp, and does not communicate explicitly with others of its species.
However, the female potter wasp can defend herself by stinging. Male potter wasps
of closely related species have been found to be quite aggressive towards other species
of insects when they have located a good feeding area. Although information about
perception in
E. fraternus
is sparse, closely related species use UV detection and photodetection to determine
which spots are pollen or nectar rich and good for feeding.
- Communication Channels
- tactile
- Perception Channels
- ultraviolet
- chemical
Food Habits
Potter wasps are omnivorous. Adults feed primarily on flower nectar from mid-summer
through the fall. However, the young only eat moth and butterfuly (
Lepidoptera
) larvae placed in the nest by the mother. Females are known to store up to 12 caterpillars
in their nests for the developing young.
- Primary Diet
- omnivore
- Animal Foods
- insects
- Plant Foods
- nectar
- Foraging Behavior
- stores or caches food
Predation
Female
E. fraternus
can sting their predators. Their markings are imitated by a non-harmful species of
Diptera
, which is further evidence of their defensive properties. As juveniles, the only
means of defense against predators is the mud dome in which they develop. Luckily,
this is quite effective, and the hard exterior successfully protects the larvae.
Ecosystem Roles
Potter wasps are both predators and prey in their ecosystem, and function to control
caterpillar populations.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Gardeners are especially fond of potter wasps for controlling caterpillars in the
garden that would otherwise destroy their crops.
- Positive Impacts
- controls pest population
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
Potter wasps will not sting humans unless they are bothered. They can be pests to
humans if they build pots in garden areas or on windowsills of a home. Luckily, it
is not difficult to remove an empty pot by simply scraping it away.
- Negative Impacts
-
injures humans
- bites or stings
- crop pest
Conservation Status
This species of potter wasp is not considered endangered or threatened.
Additional Links
Contributors
Sarah Short (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Catherine Kent (editor), Special Projects.
- Nearctic
-
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- temperate
-
that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).
- terrestrial
-
Living on the ground.
- tropical savanna and grassland
-
A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.
- savanna
-
A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.
- temperate grassland
-
A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.
- forest
-
forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.
- suburban
-
living in residential areas on the outskirts of large cities or towns.
- agricultural
-
living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.
- metamorphosis
-
A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "incomplete metamorphosis" is when young animals are similar to adults and change gradually into the adult form, and "complete metamorphosis" is when there is a profound change between larval and adult forms. Butterflies have complete metamorphosis, grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis.
- diapause
-
a period of time when growth or development is suspended in insects and other invertebrates, it can usually only be ended the appropriate environmental stimulus.
- polygynous
-
having more than one female as a mate at one time
- polygynandrous
-
the kind of polygamy in which a female pairs with several males, each of which also pairs with several different females.
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- fertilization
-
union of egg and spermatozoan
- oviparous
-
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
- female parental care
-
parental care is carried out by females
- arboreal
-
Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing.
- diurnal
-
- active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- sedentary
-
remains in the same area
- solitary
-
lives alone
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
- stores or caches food
-
places a food item in a special place to be eaten later. Also called "hoarding"
- omnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals
- ectothermic
-
animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
References
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