Query : hornets attracted to light but not wasps

[ROBERT BUTCHER]

> Date:          Tue, 29 Dec 1998 15:45:35 GMT
> From:          Neil at NWJONES.DEMON.CO.UK (Neil Jones)
> Reply-to:      Neil at NWJONES.DEMON.CO.UK
> To:            Leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:       Re: Query : hornets attracted to light but not wasps

> 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
> 
> 
Robert Butcher,
Evolutionary and Ecological Entomology Unit,
Department of Biological Sciences,
Dundee University,
Dundee, DD1 4HN,
Tayside, Scotland,
UK.
Work Phone:- 01382-344291 (Office), 01382-344756 (Lab).
Fax:- 01382-344864
e-mail:- r.d.j.butcher at dundee.ac.uk