Query : hornets attracted to light but not wasps

[Neil Jones]

In message <Pine.OSF.3.96.981229003134.29568A-100000 at aurora.alaska.edu> Kenelm Philip writes:
>                                                                                 
> > I hate to tell you this but hornets and wasp are the same, family vespi-
> > dae. They are all carnivorous and they may be showing up because of the
> > food source. The Baldfaced hornet is actually a yellowjacket.
> 
> 	Some clarification is needed:
> 
> 	The term 'wasp' applies to all Hymenoptera except ants and bees. The
> term 'yellowjacket' applies to the two native North American genera in the
> subfamily Vespinae: _Vespula_ and _Dolichovespula_. The true hornets are
> another genus in this subfamily: _Vespa_. One European species, _Vespa
> crabro_, has been introduced to North America.
> 
> 	Strictly speaking, the term 'hornet' applies to _Vespa_. However,
> in North America the species _D. maculata_ is called the baldfaced hornet,
> although it is also a yellowjacket.


Just to clarify things further. In the UK "yellowjackets" are simply called
wasps. Hornets are still hornets though. It seems that Winston Churchill was
right when he refered top us as two nationas divided by a common language.

 

-- 
Neil Jones- Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.nwjones.demon.co.uk/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve