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Why dont wasps sting at night? |
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xphobia
Member Joined: 21 Nov 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3 |
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Posted: 21 Nov 2005 at 1:27am |
one night while trying to change a light bulb in a overhead socket, i noticed that the bulb was buzzing, well it wasnt a bulb i was un screwing, it was a small wasps nest. I pulled my hand out of the socket and noticed about 4-5 wasps crawling on my hand. why didnt they sting? i disturbed the nest and all they did was fall off my hand onto the ground. this was about 3:00am in the middle of the night. I sit the water vapor in the night air, that makes the wings stick together, or cant they see at night? |
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Robert V
Senior Member Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1264 |
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So you were changing a light bulb at 3 am that wasn't a light bulb at all but a wasp nest. Well there are a couple of explanations for you not getting stung. The most likely explanation is that because the nest was exposed in such a way, the colony had been invaded by Philanthus triangulum (the sting stealer wasp) and this had neutered the grubs so that the wasps (do you know if they were Paravespula vulgaris, P.germanica or Episyrphus balteatus?) in your nest could not sting you. At night or when its windy the P.vulgaris cannot fly as they navigate by the sun and as everyone knows its never sunny when its windy. hope that helps.
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RobV
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