What does Wasps mean?

Definitions for Wasps
wasps

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Wikipedia

  1. wasps

    A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. The wasps do not constitute a clade, a complete natural group with a single ancestor, as bees and ants are deeply nested within the wasps, having evolved from wasp ancestors. Wasps that are members of the clade Aculeata can sting their prey. The most commonly known wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, are in the family Vespidae and are eusocial, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers. Eusociality is favoured by the unusual haplodiploid system of sex determination in Hymenoptera, as it makes sisters exceptionally closely related to each other. However, the majority of wasp species are solitary, with each adult female living and breeding independently. Females typically have an ovipositor for laying eggs in or near a food source for the larvae, though in the Aculeata the ovipositor is often modified instead into a sting used for defense or prey capture. Wasps play many ecological roles. Some are predators or pollinators, whether to feed themselves or to provision their nests. Many, notably the cuckoo wasps, are kleptoparasites, laying eggs in the nests of other wasps. Many of the solitary wasps are parasitoidal, meaning they lay eggs on or in other insects (any life stage from egg to adult) and often provision their own nests with such hosts. Unlike true parasites, the wasp larvae eventually kill their hosts. Solitary wasps parasitize almost every pest insect, making wasps valuable in horticulture for biological pest control of species such as whitefly in tomatoes and other crops. Wasps first appeared in the fossil record in the Jurassic, and diversified into many surviving superfamilies by the Cretaceous. They are a successful and diverse group of insects with tens of thousands of described species; wasps have spread to all parts of the world except for the polar regions. The largest social wasp is the Asian giant hornet, at up to 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in length; among the largest solitary wasps is a group of species known as tarantula hawks, along with the giant scoliid of Indonesia (Megascolia procer). The smallest wasps are solitary parasitoid wasps in the family Mymaridae, including the world's smallest known insect, with a body length of only 0.139 mm (0.0055 in), and the smallest known flying insect, only 0.15 mm (0.0059 in) long. Wasps have appeared in literature from Classical times, as the eponymous chorus of old men in Aristophanes' 422 BC comedy The Wasps, and in science fiction from H. G. Wells's 1904 novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, featuring giant wasps with three-inch-long stings. The name 'Wasp' has been used for many warships and other military equipment.

U.S. National Library of Medicine

  1. Wasps

    Any of numerous winged hymenopterous insects of social as well as solitary habits and having formidable stings.

Suggested Resources

  1. wasps

    Song lyrics by wasps -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by wasps on the Lyrics.com website.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Wasps in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Wasps in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of Wasps in a Sentence

  1. Cherie Hartzer:

    We need water in our everyday lives, but so do the pests, even small amounts dripping from an air conditioner unit may attract wasps that are foraging for water. Water that has soaked into wood is attractive to termites. Downspouts and gutters that are holding water can be perfect habitats for mosquitoes. A dripping faucet may attract rodents, especially if it has been dry and there are n’t other water sources around.

  2. Thomas Casale:

    The most common things we would prescribe epinephrine for is food allergies, bees, wasps and other stinging insects, the advantage of these auto-injectors is that you don't have to think about it. You just pop the cap, stick it right in your thigh, the needle comes out at the right depth into the muscle, and it delivers the correct amount of epinephrine.

  3. Sharra Vostral:

    'Medical Considerations of WASPS' determined that menstruation was 'not a handicap to flying and there was no relationship to accidents,' some of the reports from the physician came back, tongue-in-cheek, saying this was the most interesting group of women he'd ever encountered because they weren't having their periods.

  4. Bruce Arnold:

    You … have shown that you can fly wingtip to wingtip with your brothers. If ever there was doubt in anyone’s mind that women could become skilled pilots, the WASPs dispelled that doubt. I want to stress how valuable the whole WASP program has been for the country.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Wasps#10000#31976#100000

Translations for Wasps

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"Wasps." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Oct. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Wasps>.

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