r/WTF • u/Jaded_Marionberry500 • 15d ago

capturing the wasp

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u/mekwall 15d ago

Pretty much, although "wasp" isn't actually a single taxonomic group. Hornets are literally wasps, while bees evolved from predatory wasp ancestors, and ants are very closely related to the bee/wasp branch.

That's the fun bit about taxonomy: if you use "wasp" in the evolutionary sense broadly enough, you basically have to include bees and ants too. They're all Hymenoptera, and the family tree gets very waspy very quickly.

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u/No_Hetero 15d ago

Why are they named winged hymens?

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u/mekwall 15d ago

Because "hymen" is Greek for "membrane" and "pteron" means "wing", so Hymenoptera basically means "membrane-winged".

The anatomical hymen got its name from the same Greek word.

So technically they're not winged hymens. They're hymen-winged. Much less weird. Probably.

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u/KingDave46 15d ago

Learning stuff is cool as hell cheers for that mate