Wasps

Horrible things! A pain in more than one sense. My DGS got stung recently on the lip by one & is now worried about any flying insects.

Apparently they do kill other smaller insects but I don't think that's a good enough reason for them.

I hate wasps and consider them on a par with sharks, serve no useful purpose but are a great annoyance.

www.google.com/url?q=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/sep/14/wasps-what-use-chris-packham&sa=U&ved=0CAUQFjAAahUKEwiN48buiZfIAhVMuhoKHey6D9Y&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNElXMEpaO58lVJilPbpzgjvmgfCxA

Chris Packham's answer.

Horrible horrible and one of my guests at a summer BBQ was stung on the lip - he shouldn't have been swigging from a bottle a habit I detest but I wouldn't wish him the horrible painful mouth he had.

They are beginning to look at effects of stings causing responses in the immune system that could help in the fight against cancer etc.So the humble wasp may, at some time be the way forward in treating a lot of diseases. However, I do understand the op in that my dog is very allergic to wasp stings and I'm always terrified that she'll be stung if I'm out of the house for the afternoon.

harrigran, I'm intrigued by the sort of life you might lead that you find sharks a great annoyance!

(phoenix mentally warps off, imagining harrigran saying.........."there I was, just going to hang out the washing, and there was this damn great shark splashing about in the bird bath" or "I really wanted to park close to the post office, but no, all the spaces were taken up by sharks")

All animals and plants have their own niche. If one disappears, the whole ecosystem is changed. As Chris Packham says, what is man's place in the system of nature? Why are we any more useful than a wasp?
When the world ends, it will be insects that survive, certainly nothing bigger than a dog, or so I read yesterday.

Wasps eat as many flies as spiders. It's just that we notice spiders trapping them.

What size of dog, dj?

A Chihuahua or a Great Dane?

Well, I don't know what's been happening in my shed but I've found an old wasps nest surrounded by cobwebs so, although I don't actually know who fought who and won, as there are lots of spiders and no wasps I guess it's Spiders 1 Wasps 0.

Wasps die off when it gets too cold, Tegan. The nest is only for the larvae, so you would expect to find it empty unless you noticed lots of wasps going in and out.
Some wasps collect insects and caterpillars and seal them in the nests, laying eggs in each cell with a ready food supply. Wouldn't fancy finding one of those nests in my shed, although it would be preferable to being in my roof.

For you, Alea. You tell me.

theconversation.com/which-species-will-survive-the-earths-sixth-mass-extinction-47893

theconversation.com/mind-controlling-wasps-enslave-zombie-spiders-to-build-them-a-perfect-nest-45731

It's very crumbly jen, so I'm assuming it's quite old. Never noticed any wasps this year [in fact, remarked recently that I'd hardly seen any anywhere until a couple of weeks ago]. I had a problem with wasps a few years ago at work; they were in the loft and were coming into the surgery through a tiny hole above the burglar alarm sensor. There were wasps everywhere [I had to wear a hat sometimes for protection and was scared to touch anything on the shelves in case one was hiding behind the bottles/boxes. It was months before they sent someone out to get rid of them. They don't bother me but I have started to kill them when they come into the house because of my dog...always used to try to get them out safely. I've been stung so many times over the years they don't bother me, usually when I've put my hand on a drowsy one [or when one got into my dress one day ]...

Alarmingly, few animals larger than a dog survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene event. Other disadvantages include ecological specialisation and having a restricted geographical distribution

I see what you mean dj, the only thing is, if it is " when the world ends" , as you say, is survival of anything at all desirable or even likely?