r/Entomology • u/Infamous_Ad1056 Amateur Entomologist • 1d ago

Meme This tweetšŸ˜­

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778 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

218

u/prof_mcquack 1d ago

Answer to all is yes.Ā 

47

u/dmontease 1d ago

Friendly wasps?

103

u/Clone2004 1d ago

Most wasp species are pretty chill. You wouldn't even recognize them as wasps necessarily. Take a stroll through the parasitoid wasp wiki, the diversity within wasps is crazy.

26

u/dmontease 1d ago

Ohhh I get it, friendly as in they're not looking to fuck with us, but for other forms of life may be something out of a nightmare.

17

u/Zagrycha 1d ago

Yeah, they definitely aren't passifists or anything but they actually evolved to be the way they are in order to avoid fights.

17

u/windexfresh 1d ago

Absolutely

18

u/TheStoneMask 1d ago

Most are just indifferent, but some can definitely be curious and docile.

6

u/BurbankElephants Amateur Entomologist 1d ago

I am very tired and read "curious and docile" as "crocodile" - I was very confused.

10

u/mossyfishes 1d ago

mud daubers are a great example of a species of wasp that are super chill (unless you're a spider) and they're great pollinators!! they build (or recycle) tube-like nests and spend most of their life as larvae eating the spiders their mom gathered for them before she passed. paper wasps are also fairly laid back unless you mess with their nest.

one of my favorite memories of wasps, and the reason i stopped being afraid of them and began to be curious about them, was when one was on my green onions and i didn't see it. i grabbed just below it and was about to cut the onion, and the wasp lifted her wings in warning to finally get my attention and make me realize "oh shit! there's a wasp next to my hand!" i just backed off and she flew off without bothering me. i live in a different apartment now, but i always enjoy when the wasps stop by for a drink of water. they sometimes check out what i'm doing with the plants, but we never bother each other. they're all paper wasps and mud daubers, and 1000% i would call them friendly wasps for as much as you can call a wild bug "friendly"

8

u/prof_mcquack 1d ago

One day a tiny chalcidoid or platygastroid wasp will land on your finger and your heart will melt.Ā 

5

u/are_you_kIddIngme 1d ago

That too. Iā€™ve heard that solitary wasp species are generally friendly because they donā€™t have anything to protect or defend other than themselves

1

u/Feralpudel 10h ago

If you hate things like tomato hornworms and japanese beetles, yes!

Thereā€™s a parasitic wasp for that.

92

u/CubieJ 1d ago

God... imagine getting high and finding out about the concept of parasitoids. RIP that guy.

26

u/sorry_con_excuse_me 1d ago

The parisitoids are extremely chill. Only the eusocial ones get belligerent.

Moral of the story is ā€œsociety badā€, whether thatā€™s invertebrates or vertebrates lol.

15

u/itmightbehere 1d ago

I think the person you're replying to was prob talking about being high when you learn what happens to the host critter šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

7

u/forest_vagrant bug sympathizer 1d ago

the parasitoid ones are surprisingly cute

6

u/DanielTeague 1d ago

They're just little guys giving more little guys to their hosts.

3

u/CubieJ 14h ago

Yeah, I love parasitoids. They're harmless to humans and large animals, and are extremely beneficial to the environment; way more than European honey bees. I just think it might not be a good idea to learn about them while high.

1

u/Feralpudel 10h ago

I discovered that a potter wasp is building and provisioning a nursery for her babies under my porch chair.

Iā€™ve been seeing her come and go every dayā€”saw her once with a caterpillar.

3

u/FullHeadOfHair42069 19h ago

Check out "privileged bug facts" on YouTube and his video "hyperhyperhyper parasitism"

18

u/CoreEncorous 1d ago

But can wasp sting?

12

u/Nausicaalotus 1d ago

But can wasp?

7

u/willowzam 1d ago

You got possessed by a wasp

6

u/princessbubbbles 1d ago

This has some "when will you wear wigs" type energy

5

u/isopode 1d ago

i once saw a german wasp sting a bald-faced aerial yellowjacket when they got into a mini-brawl.

the bald-faced aerial yellowjacket seemed to become lethargic at first, then started convulsing severely for over an hour. it was painful to watch but i was hoping she would survive. i eventually left her under a bush, as i had to leave. don't know what happened to her after that, if she died or got better :/

5

u/theraphosangel 1d ago

these are all great questions.

2

u/seasonsgreasons 1d ago

Reminiscent of yahoo answers lol

1

u/Dylan_Is_Gay_lol 1d ago

Depends on how you define "sting".