{"id":3590,"date":"2023-07-06T15:45:32","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T15:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/?p=3590"},"modified":"2026-08-21T14:34:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T14:34:34","slug":"2023-07-common-wasp-in-armenia-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/posts\/2023-07-common-wasp-in-armenia-en\/","title":{"rendered":"The German yellowjacket wasp on a city square in Yerevan, Armenia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The German yellowjacket (<em>Vespula germanica<\/em>) is a fascinating insect widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. Instantly recognizable by its bold yellow-and-black stripes, this species boasts a surprisingly complex social hierarchy and wears many hats: it is both an expert paper-maker and an avid natural pest controller. To construct their intricate nests, queens chew sound, dry wood and mix it with their saliva, creating a remarkably durable, water-resistant, grey-colored papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9. Unlike honey bees, <em>Vespula germanica<\/em> workers possess smooth stingers, allowing them to sting multiple times without injuring themselves. While they tirelessly hunt other insects to feed their protein-hungry larvae, the adults themselves crave pure sugar. This sweet tooth is precisely why they love to crash late-summer picnics and pub gardens, sneaking sips of soda and sweet treats. I crossed paths with this striking worker in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, during a work trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The German yellowjacket (Vespula germanica) is a fascinating insect widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. Instantly recognizable by its bold [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[414],"tags":[],"countries":[584,63],"order-category":[60,576,420],"class_list":["post-3590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-omnivores","countries-europe-armenia","countries-europe","order-category-insects","order-category-insects-wasps-ants-bees-and-sawflies-vespid-wasps","order-category-insects-wasps-ants-bees-sawflies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3590"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9734,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3590\/revisions\/9734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3590"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=3590"},{"taxonomy":"order-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/order-category?post=3590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}