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| ... females, a single egg is deposited on the food and the brood chambers are closed. Shortly after hatching, the larvae of the 2nd generation start feeding on the food supply. They develop in their chamber. Approximately 3 weeks after mating the males die. The females care for their brood until the end of May and then they die too. The larvae are left to fend for themselves until June when they pupate. In early July, the adults of the 2nd generation hatch from their pupae. They are active until September when they die. Their offspring overwinter in soil nests, hatching in March of the following year as adults of the new 1st generation. | | |
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| ...st cleaning, food procurement and feeding the larvae, and the drones are responsible for the fertilization of young queens. To avoid inbreeding, some drones leave the nest and look for females from other populations.
While the old queens usually die in the autumn the young fertilized queens seek safe homes. With the cold of coming winter huge numbers of worker wasps die from starvation and as a result many colony wasps become solitary. In spring new colonies emerge from the overwintering young queens.
Wasps have a smooth sting which they use to inject crippling substances into their prey and to defend themselves... | | |
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| ...or twice. The adult butterflies of the first new generation appear in July/August, the second generation in September / October. Butterflies of both new generations make their way south in autumn. Many do not make it across the Alpine border and die on the glaciers. In other cases (such as in the British Isles) painted ladies die before their return flight starts. | | |
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| ...tore food to ensure the survival of the entire colony in times of food shortage (winter, the rainy season in the tropics). During the winter a beehive needs to maintain a minimum temperature of 10 degrees Celsius, otherwise the entire colony would die. The food stock of bees (honey) is edible even at very low temperatures. | | |
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| ...sibility. A colony can accommodate as many as 200 wasps. The nest can grow to approximately the size of a football. In August additional males and young queens are bred. The young fertilized queens seek out winter hideouts, while all the other wasps die. | | |
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| While the males in autumn die after mating, the females overwinter hidden. In spring they dig a nest, which consists of the main course (leading diagonally into the earth) and several short side galleries leading to the cells for the brood. They lay one egg only in each brood ce... | | |
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| ... sheds or blindboxes. When finished, nests consist of about 50 cells. They have no protective outer surface. Up to 30 workers live in a single nest. At the end of July, the adult females and males of the new generation appear. In September the wasps die with the exception of the fertilized young queens, which hibernate. | | |
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| Black garden ants mate in July. The males, whose life expectancy is only a few days, then die, while the young queen discards her wings and goes off in search of a suitable nesting ground. After the Queen has laid her eggs she looks after them for some time until the workers hatch , then they care for the brood. Later they also expand th... | | |
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| ...mer, the larvae become adult bugs. In autumn, they go in search of protected places and are often found hiding in walls after the leaves have fallen from the trees.
They pose no problems when encountered in areas inhabited by humans and simply die there after a few days. | | |
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| ... plants and on honeydew, while their larvae live off the body tissue of different caterpillars. The females lay their eggs near the caterpillars. The larvae immediately hatch from their eggs and penetrate the host caterpillars. The caterpillars die because the larvae feed on their inner tissue. The larvae are parasitic on the caterpillars of the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar), the black arches (Lymantria monacha), and the pine beauty (Panolis flammea). | | |
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