WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:02.080 So you want to go up this road here and 2 00:00:02.120 --> 00:00:03.879 get to the roundabit. You take a left and then 3 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:05.960 you go past the Murphy's house, you know, to Murphy's there, 4 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.119 young lad Sean, I think you're over in London now. 5 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:14.519 Oh yeah. FBD doesn't stand for frustratingly bad directions. FBD 6 00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:18.239 stands for support. We support van drivers in Ireland with 7 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:21.519 up to seventy five percent off new van policies. FBD 8 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:24.800 Insurance Support it's what we do. Can't miss it. Once 9 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:27.079 you pass there, a little terrier will start to chase 10 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:29.320 yet and once he gives up, you should be there. 11 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.479 Seventy five percent off based on five years. No claims discount, 12 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:35.719 terms and conditions apply. Underwritten by FBD Insurance Plc. FBD 13 00:00:35.799 --> 00:00:38.600 Insurance Group Limited, trading as FBD Insurance, is regulated by 14 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:39.600 the Central Bank of Ireland. 15 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:43.159 Oh hey, it's the coconut lacroix that tastes just like 16 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:45.479 sunscreen and you wouldn't have it any other way. Ali 17 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:48.759 Ward back with an episode of Ologies. I'm so proud 18 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:51.640 of you that you're listening to you're doing it. Maybe 19 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:55.039 you thought no way and help word okay fine, or 20 00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:58.039 perhaps maybe you're listening with your arms crossed over your chest, 21 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:01.240 saying make me like wasps. I dare you. You can't 22 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:04.599 do it? Watched me, wasp, me, watch me do it? 23 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:07.519 First off, okay, how many species of wasp can you name? 24 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:10.799 I know you're like yellowjacket hornets, the big mean hornets, 25 00:01:10.840 --> 00:01:14.319 the paper wasp. Maybe you've said the mud dauber. That's 26 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:17.879 what five right there? Oh hm, I'm sorry. There's tens 27 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:22.879 of thousands of described wasp species, so many uncategorized undiscovered ones. 28 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:26.000 They are like the tiny sharks of the air. They're 29 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:29.640 feared apex predators who get a bad rap, and most 30 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.879 of them will not harm you. So hating on wasps 31 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:36.439 so yesterday, so ghosh, So we're gonna dig it. This 32 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:39.760 ologist is a natural history writer, the principal author on 33 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:43.560 the Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America. He 34 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:46.079 has been a professional entomologist at the organ Zoo, the 35 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:50.239 Cincinnati Zoo, the Smithsonian Institution. I have wanted to talk 36 00:01:50.359 --> 00:01:53.079 wasps for years with him, but we wanted to wait 37 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:56.120 until his new book dropped. And it's called Wasps The 38 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:01.120 Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Instinct. And did just drop it? 39 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:03.200 Just came out in March, so we will chat. But 40 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:06.040 first we will thank patrons at patreon dot com slash 41 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:08.400 ologies for supporting the show. It will cost you a 42 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:11.479 cool dollar a month to join and submit your questions. 43 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:13.960 And thanks to everyone leaving reviews which keep the show 44 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:16.759 kicking ass in the charts. We're going to read afresheet, 45 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:19.439 which we do every week. This one is from Floodball, 46 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:22.360 who left the Apple review. I'm a medical student in 47 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.800 need of worldly wisdom in this podcast has absolutely changed 48 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:29.039 my life. No other words. I love you, Floodball, I 49 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:32.159 love you back. You're about to love wasps honkre down. 50 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:37.439 So this totally unpronounceable ology is derived from the Greek 51 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:41.039 word for wasp, although so many people online just use 52 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:44.800 the term waspology we're going to discuss. We'll also cover 53 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:51.319 homicidal hornets, the most painful stings, bug corsets, modified egg cannons, 54 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:56.159 breath taking, biodiversity, some gardening tips, why a wasp wants 55 00:02:56.159 --> 00:03:02.199 your sandwich, some barbecue strategies, underdogs, zombie victims, and snack faults. 56 00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:05.039 As we do our best to make you horny for 57 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:10.599 hornets Gonna Happen with author entomologist and champion of your 58 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:34.400 soon to be former enemies, sphexologist Eric Eaton. First thing 59 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:35.719 I'll have you do is if you could say your 60 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:37.840 first and last name and your pronouns. 61 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:44.159 Sure, Eric with a c Eaton and he and him sweet. 62 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:48.000 Okay. Now, we discussed what theology for this would be, 63 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:55.280 and it was aologist. How do you say it? 64 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:03.360 There's different pronunciations. There's spheaksology and specxology, and I'm not 65 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:05.240 sure which one is preferred, if either. 66 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:10.719 I definitely think if there's a phobia attributed to it, 67 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.199 there should be an ology. 68 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.080 Right, that's absolutely right, I agree. 69 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:17.879 And perhaps even aphelia for people who are drawn to 70 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:18.480 study them. 71 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:21.000 Right, Oh, I would agree with that as well. 72 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:24.040 Can you tell me a little bit about how long 73 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:26.319 you have been into bugs? 74 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:29.920 Oh? Okay. I usually go with my mom's account, which 75 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:33.519 is that I became interested in all things nature in kindergarten, 76 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:38.600 and I vividly remember my teacher was a gifted artist, 77 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:41.639 and she drew a trapdoor spider on the chalkboard one 78 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:43.759 day and I was just mesmerized by that, and then 79 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.839 she told us how it behaved, and I was even 80 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:51.399 more fascinated, and so my affinity for nature has always 81 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:56.319 been the underdog or the things that most people disdain. 82 00:04:56.680 --> 00:04:56.839 You know. 83 00:04:57.240 --> 00:04:59.800 It was like, you know, sharks before they were cool, 84 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:05.319 and snakes and spiders and insects and things of that nature. 85 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:09.439 And if I'm truthful, that I got interested in wasps 86 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:11.959 initially because no one could call me a sissy for 87 00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:17.920 catching something that could fight back. But then when I 88 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:20.800 learned about how they behave and their natural history, is 89 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:23.800 it my interest just took off all the more. 90 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:26.839 Were you ever interested in bees first, or did you 91 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:30.560 go straight from like spiders and underdogs to wasps. 92 00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:35.199 That's a good question. I think I've always kind of 93 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.439 had an affinity for you know, flying stinging things, probably, 94 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:43.800 And by today's measure, bees are just a subset of wasps. Anyway, 95 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:49.160 They've gone from the predatory lifestyle to or parasitoid lifestyle 96 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:50.839 to the pollen collecting lifestyle. 97 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.959 Pardon me, hold up? Bees are a subset of wasps? 98 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:54.920 Tell me everything. 99 00:05:55.199 --> 00:06:00.040 Well, that's kind of an on well ongoing debate, but 100 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:04.279 the trend is towards the idea that, yeah, bees are 101 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:08.240 essentially pollen collecting wasps, and there are other wasps, by 102 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.120 the way, that are what you would call true wasps 103 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:12.319 that also collect pollen. 104 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:16.600 Just a quick taxonomy aside. So my friend Wikipedia told 105 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:19.160 me that a wasp is any insect of the narrow 106 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:23.480 wasted suborder Apocrta that is not a bee nor an ant. 107 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:28.120 But wasps do share a common ancestor with bees and ants. 108 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:31.480 So wasps come in a whole big variety of genera 109 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:36.360 from Vespa hornets and Vespula aka yellow jackets. But again 110 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:42.199 there's giant biodiversity, including weight wasps who collect pollen. What 111 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:42.920 are those called? 112 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:48.000 They're called pollen wasps, not surprisingly, and they're solitary though 113 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.800 they're not social. Part of the thing about wasps is 114 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:55.439 that our public definition of wasps is very narrow. It's 115 00:06:55.639 --> 00:06:59.480 basically what we call a hornet or a yellow jacket 116 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:03.720 or a paper wasp, one of the social species of wasps, 117 00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:09.040 when in reality, the overwhelming majority of wasps lead solitary 118 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:13.720 lives and only a fraction of them are capable of 119 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:14.639 stinging us. 120 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:17.759 Really, yeah, the first thing you think about when you 121 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:19.519 think of a wasps nest is you think about a 122 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:22.000 ton of them who want to hurt you, And so 123 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:25.920 you're saying both of those things are flint flam Well. 124 00:07:26.279 --> 00:07:29.920 It depends on the circumstance. If you aggravate a nest 125 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:32.120 of social wasps, you're going to be in for it. 126 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:35.959 I mean, they're venom and their sting is used primarily 127 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:40.360 in defense of their nest because their nests contain very 128 00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:45.560 soft and helpless grubs and eggs and pupa that can't 129 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:49.560 defend themselves, and so the workers are unleashed at the 130 00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:51.279 slightest hint of hostility. 131 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:54.240 So again, not all wasps are social, and only a 132 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:57.120 fraction of them sting, y'all. So when you think about 133 00:07:57.120 --> 00:07:59.839 a hornet's nest or a yellow jacket's nest, those are 134 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:03.000 all only one type of wasp, the social ones. And 135 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:05.560 what would you do if a bear pounded on your 136 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:08.439 window and poked its snowed in your door, hungry for 137 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:12.600 your babies? Maybe you would brandish the venom gun attached 138 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:16.800 to your butt to defend your several thousand newborns. They 139 00:08:16.839 --> 00:08:21.600 have so many babies. What about when you describe the 140 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:24.240 body of a wasp? What makes up a wasp? Is 141 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:26.600 it the type of wings or mouth parts? 142 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:30.720 There are four winged insects, and their wings are connected 143 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:34.320 by these hamuli, which are little hooks on the hindwing 144 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:37.039 that joined to the edge of the hind edge of 145 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:40.279 the front wing, so that they act as one pair. Wow, 146 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:44.000 they don't. Yeah, they don't flap independent of each other. 147 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:48.720 But the sting, by the way, is really a weaponized 148 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:52.039 egg laying organ I love that. Yeah. In the evolution 149 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:57.440 of wasps, the females went from just this injecting egg 150 00:08:57.480 --> 00:09:02.480 injecting device basically to a venomin cochecting device, and they 151 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:06.000 then put their egg out through an oviduct rather than 152 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:07.840 through what is now their stinger. 153 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.840 I mean, okay, let's let's ask the question, probably on 154 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.919 everyone's mind, how many times have you been stung? And 155 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:18.440 how do you feel about it? 156 00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:23.159 And not very many? 157 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:24.200 Good for you? 158 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:28.200 And those times I have been has been my fault, 159 00:09:28.519 --> 00:09:32.519 disturbed a nest by getting too close or netted the thing, 160 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:35.519 and it's you know, found a way to jab me. 161 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:39.039 But most of the time I'm gentle with them, and 162 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:41.639 they're gentle with me. Right now, we have a paper 163 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:44.720 wasp nest with one wasp on it in the corner 164 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:47.240 of our back door, and you know we come and 165 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:49.919 go out of there with no problem. I mean, it 166 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.320 took us, you know a couple of weeks to recognize 167 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.840 it was even there. So you know, the idea that 168 00:09:54.919 --> 00:10:04.200 wasps are super aggressive probably is misinformation and exaggeration, and 169 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:06.120 you know, the media does a good job of that, 170 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:09.360 and if you're in the business of pest control, you 171 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:11.960 know it's it's to your advantage to paint them as 172 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:13.919 very aggressive animals. 173 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:17.759 Maybe just because they're not fuzzy, people don't trust them 174 00:10:17.799 --> 00:10:21.759 as much. And are they not fuzzy because for the 175 00:10:21.799 --> 00:10:24.879 most part they're not collecting pollen and nectar? 176 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:29.679 Well, they are hairy. Actually, some are really hairy, like 177 00:10:29.799 --> 00:10:33.279 velvet ants, which are actually the females of velvet ants 178 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:36.639 are wingless, and so they look like big furry ants 179 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:38.600 running around on the ground. 180 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:42.879 So velvet ants are wasps even though they're not ants, 181 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:45.799 nor are they made of velvet. And they're called cow 182 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:49.679 killers even though they cannot kill cows, so the situation 183 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:51.480 is indeed a little hairy. 184 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:55.519 Most other wasps out hairs that are called seta and 185 00:10:55.639 --> 00:10:58.879 seta usually have some kind of sensory function, and so 186 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:04.200 they're either detecting sense or air currents. Their vision isn't 187 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:08.039 necessarily really good. They're good at detecting motion in lieu 188 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.720 of that their CETA can detect air currents. 189 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:13.679 Oh can you imagine if I mean, I guess if 190 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.000 you have a lot of backhair, you probably could tell 191 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:19.519 which direction the breeze is coming from. I suppose we 192 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:22.279 use it similarly, right, Oh. 193 00:11:22.120 --> 00:11:25.240 Maybe I've got a ponytail right now because of COVID. 194 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:29.960 So you're not the only one out there for sure. 195 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:33.559 You know, I'm so excited to hear about, like work 196 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:36.080 out in the field. Did you have to do in 197 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.759 collecting stories and data for your book? 198 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:42.799 I mean, I did study entomology as an undergraduate at 199 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:43.519 Oregon State. 200 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:47.519 Eric's mentor was the late doctor George Ferguson, who was 201 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:51.360 a world authority on wasps and donated his collection of 202 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:56.200 eighty thousand specimens to Oregon State University Oregon State's up 203 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:59.080 Hi Hi to your Dead Wasps. Anyway, Eric got to 204 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.519 learn about their behavior from doing field research. 205 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.840 Some things are just stunning. I was in Massachusetts and 206 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:11.080 I watched this Mason wasp, which is a solitary relative 207 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:14.399 of yellow jackets, and and she was going over the 208 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:17.240 surface of this curled up leaf, and I knew that 209 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:19.200 there was a caterpillar in there, and I knew that 210 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:23.360 Mason wasps hunt caterpillars, but she didn't go after it 211 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:25.679 the way I thought you would, which is to just 212 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:27.879 bite a hole in the leaf and drag the thing out. 213 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:32.320 She forced it to eject. And when these caterpillars eject, 214 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:35.639 they basically bungee jump out of the thing. They release 215 00:12:35.720 --> 00:12:38.240 a thread of silk that they hang off of, but 216 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:41.919 they just leap out of their little curled leaf. And 217 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:44.039 so what she does is she forces the thing to 218 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.200 eject and then grabs it in mid air before it 219 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:47.080 can reach the ground. 220 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:52.679 Oh nice catch. Yeah, that's some NFL stuff right there. 221 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:57.000 Nice work. And you said she are a lot of 222 00:12:57.000 --> 00:13:00.960 the wasps that we see are familiar with. Are those females? 223 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:04.960 Excellent question. Well, let me put this way, when when 224 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:09.519 people ask, you know, well, why are wasps such bastards 225 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:15.960 in actuality, it's only the females that sting. So they're bitches. Bitches. 226 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.279 We got that question so much of like why are 227 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:24.840 they such dicks? But they're not right the sea word, 228 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:25.720 thank you very much. 229 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:32.360 I mean, yeah, but again it's only the You know, 230 00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:35.200 our definition of wasp tends to be these social species 231 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:38.519 that we tend to have negative interactions with and all 232 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:43.559 the workers of social wasps are female and males are 233 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:46.519 only produced at the end of the colony life cycle 234 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:50.679 and they're released to mate with with queens or females 235 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:52.879 from other colonies at the end of the cycle. But 236 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:56.399 that said, we see a lot of male wasps. Also. 237 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:00.559 The males are either lounging around on flowers, eating nectar 238 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:03.240 and stuff, because their only job is to find a female, right, 239 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.080 But the females have to do all this other stuff. 240 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:08.519 They have to build a nest, which is often a 241 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:12.080 burrow in the ground or existing cavity in a log 242 00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:14.240 or something of that nature, and then she has to 243 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:18.519 go hunt food to store for her offspring. Or for 244 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:20.559 those that don't make nests, they just have to find 245 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:23.200 a host and lay an egg on or in it, 246 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:25.080 or in the case of gall wasps, they have to 247 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:27.600 find the right host plant. And so they got a 248 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:29.360 lot of work to do, the females, and for that 249 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:32.080 we should admire them. I mean, wasps are kind of 250 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:35.960 a symbol of female empowerment as far as I'm concerned. 251 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:38.159 But the males are, yeah, they're just either lounging around 252 00:14:38.279 --> 00:14:42.159 or they're defending a harem of females, and so often 253 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:44.559 the males are the aggressors, even though they can't sting, 254 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:48.600 they're trying to chase off any intruders that might harm 255 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:50.159 their group of females. 256 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.639 So social wasps are a minority of wasp species, but 257 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:57.960 are simply more visible because the hangout and crowds and 258 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:01.879 maybe you've seen their nests dangling from somewhere. Now. The 259 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:07.600 majority of wasps are solitary. They're chillen solo. Maybe they're pollinating. 260 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:11.279 Maybe they're laying their egg babies on a live spiders 261 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:14.279 or cockroaches and just tucking them in to devour their 262 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:17.039 victim alive and then getting out of dodge. Oh and 263 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:20.879 word alert. So a parasitic organism kills its host, but 264 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:24.720 a parasitoid lets its babies kill you. Can you imagine 265 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:27.919 getting eaten alive by a baby? How pissed? Would you be? 266 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.159 So embarrassing? But back to the social ones who hang 267 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:33.799 out and clicks. How are these things that have a 268 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:37.720 tiny knot of neuronal ganglia doing it? How are they 269 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:40.639 doing it? I can't even organize a group text. Do 270 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:44.879 they communicate with each other? Like with social dances like 271 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:46.480 bees do or no no. 272 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:51.960 For the social wasps, their main form of communication is 273 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.879 something called trophylaxis, which is mutual feeding. And so you'll 274 00:15:56.879 --> 00:15:59.320 see if you watch a paper wasp nest, which I 275 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:03.519 recommend doing, you know, maybe use binoculars, but you'll see 276 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:05.879 two wasps appearing to kiss, and what they're doing is 277 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:09.360 they're one is giving food to its nest mate, and 278 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:12.960 they also do that with the young. The larvae are 279 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:18.240 fed protein matter and then they in turn regurgitate kind 280 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.480 of a sweet secretion that feeds the adults. 281 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:24.240 Okay, so you feed your baby, and your baby's like thanks, 282 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:26.519 and then burps up lunch for you, and you're like, 283 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:27.919 thank you, thank you, my baby. 284 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:28.360 You mean, ma'am. 285 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:31.639 That is happening all over the globe right now, And 286 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:35.159 you never knew before. So many mysteries in the world 287 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:38.919 of wasps, some big, some teeny teeny, like a tenth 288 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:42.080 of a millimeter long. One thing I think that's so 289 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.960 interesting about wasps. I didn't know until I visited the 290 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:48.720 University of California, Riverside. They're entomology department there that wasps 291 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:51.840 are not what we always think of with yellow jackets 292 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:55.159 and mud daubers and stuff like, there are these tiny 293 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:57.240 little are they called fairy flies? 294 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:58.200 Yeah? 295 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:00.799 Yeah, okay, So can can you tell me a little 296 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:04.000 bit about the range from these little fairy flies all 297 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:09.599 the way up to so called murder hornets? Yeah, fairy 298 00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:12.000 I can tell you're already bristling at the murder hornet. 299 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:16.680 That was unfortunate. Okay, First of all, let's lay out 300 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:21.519 the lifestyle of most wasps, and that's a parasitoid lifestyle. 301 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:27.319 And a parasitoid is basically a parasite that invariably kills 302 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:30.920 the host. And in the case of fairy flies and 303 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:34.359 several other families of tiny wasps, by the way, they 304 00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:39.200 are parasitoids of the eggs of other insects. And you 305 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:45.039 can get several tiny egg parasitoids out of one egg 306 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:47.240 of the host. Is crazy. 307 00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:50.880 So imagine an insect's egg and into it a wasp 308 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:54.960 has jammed dozens of her own babies into your baby, 309 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:58.160 and her babies eat your baby from the inside out. 310 00:17:58.599 --> 00:18:02.119 Maybe don't imagine this, but the point is parasitoid wasps, 311 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:06.119 especially these teeny tiny, black, shiny fairy flies, they get 312 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.839 a lot of bang out of their buck for eggs 313 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:13.920 and they're sometimes used as biowarfare against agricultural pests. 314 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:17.759 And some fairy flies are nearly microscopic. There's one that 315 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:21.759 barely exceeds the size of a paramecium. I think, oh 316 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:26.279 my god, yeah, yeah, and it's got you know, it 317 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:28.599 does its entire stuff with you know, only a few 318 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:34.119 hundred neurons or something. I mean, it's just ridiculous how 319 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.400 complex such a tiny thing can be. 320 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:37.920 Mm hm. 321 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:42.759 And they get bigger and bigger then until I mean, 322 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:46.759 obviously we probably assume that some of the wasps we 323 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:50.079 see out and about are gnats, right. 324 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:54.440 Probably, Yeah, You're not likely to see these things because 325 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:57.960 you have to set up flight intercept traps and malaise 326 00:18:58.079 --> 00:18:59.960 traps and then you can put them under a microscope 327 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:00.519 to see them. 328 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:05.400 Yeah yeah, Malay's trap. Side note are the white tents 329 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:08.559 that are covering a jar and entomologists set them out 330 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:12.039 in fields or yards to collect a sampling of local bugs. 331 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:14.480 And all those little things that might just look like 332 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:19.039 dust motes in the wind, they may be unidentified species. 333 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:22.680 There are so many little bugs that we haven't formally 334 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:25.720 met yet. I lived in an apartment and in the 335 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:29.160 summer i'd get little nats sometimes all over my bathroom mirror, 336 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:32.680 and it wasn't until I found a dead one, looked 337 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:35.480 at it and sent a picture to Leela Higgins from 338 00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:38.319 the Entomology episode, and she was like, oh, that's a wasp. 339 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:40.359 There used to be a fig tree right under my window, 340 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:45.440 and so they were probably fig wasps, which so many 341 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.000 of us have heard that if you eat a fig Newton, 342 00:19:48.039 --> 00:19:51.519 you're eating so many dead wasps. Is this true or false? 343 00:19:53.319 --> 00:20:00.119 Oh gosh, even if it is, they're so infantestically small. 344 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:05.279 You're right, it's like, that's fine. But they do burrow 345 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.359 into figs and live inside a fig. 346 00:20:08.440 --> 00:20:11.720 Right, this is correct. And one thing people may not 347 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:15.640 know is that the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration, 348 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:19.359 the two entities that control our food quality, have allowances 349 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:24.559 for numbers of insect parts because it's just impossible to 350 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:28.640 exclude them. I mean, that's how ubiquitous insects are. And 351 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:30.839 so even if you're not eating a fig, you're probably 352 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:35.480 another insect somewhere during your day. I had let us 353 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:37.559 on my sandwich. I've probably had an ephig. I don't know. 354 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:40.759 The only pollinators of figs are these tiny wasps that 355 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:46.559 have developed this, you know, mutualistic relationship with figs, and 356 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:51.720 it's ridiculously complex. There's a great many species. Some figs 357 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:56.160 do not require pollination, by the way, but for those 358 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:00.279 that do, there's not only the fig wasp, but there's 359 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:03.119 other wasps that are parasitoids of the fig wasp, and 360 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:06.920 probably parasitoids are the parasitoids. Wouldn't surprise me either. I mean, 361 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:10.640 a lot of this hasn't been completely figured out yet. 362 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:14.440 Unless an insect is of economic importance in one way 363 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:18.240 or another, there's not a lot of funds to study them. 364 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:21.240 And so a lot of what we know we owe 365 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:25.599 to really curious and determined scientists that said, I'm going 366 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:28.000 to find funding to do this because it interests me. 367 00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:29.960 You know, there's a shortage of that kind of money 368 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:32.559 to do these kinds of things, but that we desperately 369 00:21:32.599 --> 00:21:32.960 need that. 370 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:37.599 Okay, But one thing they have figured out is some 371 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:41.400 hot ass goss about how figs are made, a tradition 372 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:44.759 that goes back evolutionarily about eighty million years. Are you 373 00:21:44.839 --> 00:21:47.680 ready for this? Okay, So a fig is an inside 374 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.319 out flower. Let's start by just trying to cope with 375 00:21:50.359 --> 00:21:54.000 that fact right there, and then a lady wasp digs 376 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:56.160 into it via the bottom of the figs little buttle, 377 00:21:56.400 --> 00:22:00.640 and in so doing she rips her wings and off, 378 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:05.279 and then uses blades on her face to worm through 379 00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:10.079 the fig, pollinating the FIG's internal blossom. And then she dies. 380 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:12.519 She dies in there. She's like, okay, cool, I'm done here. 381 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:16.000 And then her baby's hatch and the males of them 382 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:19.599 have no wings. They they don't need them. They don't 383 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:23.680 need them. They mature. They impregnate a female wasp before 384 00:22:23.799 --> 00:22:28.039 she hatches. A fig wasp born knocked up. Can you 385 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:32.720 imagine you're born pregnant from some wingless creep who is 386 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:35.359 also your soulmate, and he's like, I gotta split, bitch, 387 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:37.839 and he digs a tunnel out. But once he's out, 388 00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:39.880 he's like, fuck, I just remember now I have wings, 389 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:42.200 And you're like, thanks, dude, I got a motor. You 390 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:44.599 go out his tunnel, You take some of the pollen 391 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:48.559 with you, all over your pregnant newborn body into the 392 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:52.519 butthole of another fig, which once again is an inverted flower. 393 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:55.359 Now before you dramatically wretch at the thought of a fig. 394 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.559 Apparently the figs were like, this is a convenient system 395 00:22:58.599 --> 00:23:02.359 for us, it's probably bad pr though. So figs make 396 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:06.839 an enzyme called fichin that digests the dead wasps. So vegans, 397 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:09.079 you're pretty much in the clear. Don't worry about it. 398 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:12.200 There's so many alive things all over everything we eat. 399 00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:16.759 Even when we try our plant based best, everything's crawling 400 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.400 with something else. Oh and the crunchy things in a fig, 401 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:21.240